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KOSSUTH 

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MAGYAE LAND, 

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CHAKLES PRIDHAM, Esq., B.A., F.R.G.S. 

LATE COEBESPONDENT OF "THE TIMES" IK KUNGABY. 



" Though ever and anon, as shrilly sounds 
The ultramontane trumpet, and the deep 
And gloomy beat of the barbarian drum 
Heralds their German tyrants; to the pile 
Where the Imperial Viceroy holds his state 
And pallid councils, many a rancorous glance 
Speaks hope of vengeance— 'Tis in hours like these 
Heroic souls are proved, and all men own 
The magi* of a Leader." 

D'lsraeWs Revolutionary Epic 



LONDON: 
JAMES MADDEN, 8, LEADENHALL STREET. 



M.DCCC.LI. 



LONDON.' 

PRINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO., 

CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURT. 



X*M 






5 



pq4 



h 



TO 

LOUIS KOSSUTH, 
CASIMIR BATTHYANY, 

AND TO 

THE REMNANT OF THAT NOBLE BAND OF PATRIOTS, 

WHO, AT THE RISK OF LIFE, FORTUNE, AND FRIENDS, 

ROSE, REGARDLESS OF ALL, 

AND BY PROCLAIMING THEIR COUNTRY'S LIBERTY, 

SOUGHT TO ESTABLISH A NEW BARRIER AGAINST THE DESPOTISM. 

OF EASTERN EUROPE, 

AND TO SUPPORT THE CIVILISATION OF THE WEST, 

THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY THEIR ARDENT ADMIRER 

AND FRIEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface -------- page xiii 

CHAPTER I. 

Commencement of the Hungarian Struggle. — My own 
Views thereon. — How directed. — Departure from England as 
Correspondent of a London Journal. — M. Pulsky. — Hungarian 
Refugees at Folkstone. — Arrival at Paris. — Conduct of the 
Liberal Party in France towards other oppressed Nationali- 
ties. — Description of the Great Highway between Paris and 
Strasburgh. — Bombardment of Rastadt. — Alsace and the 
Bavarian Palatinate. — Proceed to Carlsruhe. — Political As- 
pect of Baden. — Stuttgard. — The Frankfort Parliament.— 
Condition of Wurtemburg. — Ulm. — Augsburg. — Munich. 
Passau. — Linz. — Arrival at Vienna. — Political Excitement. — 
Emasculating System of Metternich - - 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Author's Reception by the Police. — Letter-opening Bureau. 
— System of Espionage, and its Effects. — The present Aus- 
trian Administration. — The Hereditary Nobility — Attempts 
of the Government to raise a Loan in England. — Financial 
Position of the Country. — Interview with Baron Werner. — 
Mr. Magenis. — The American Ambassador. — Interview with 
Lord Ponsonby. — Conversation with Prince Schwarzenberg. 
— Failure to obtain a legal Admission hito Hungary. — Re- 
solve to attempt it in a less regular Form. — Proceed into 

Styria 28 

a3 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 



Baden. — Disabilities of the Austrian Press. — The Hun- 
garian Magnates. Their Pusillanimity and Treachery. — 
Gloggnitz and the Styrian Alps. — Details of my Eoute. — 
Enter Friedberg. — Succeed in averting the Suspicion of the 
Police. — Pinkafeld. — New Interrogatory. — A Hebrew School- 
master. — Strike direct for the Platten See. — Am challenged 
and arrested. — A Court Martial. — Imprisonment at Friedberg 
— Bemoval to Hartberg under a Guard.- — Their Behaviour. — 
Critical Position at the Hotel at Hartberg. — How I escaped 
the Danger. — -Am sent on to Gratz. — Description of the 
Country. — Befusal of the Governor of Gratz to my Bequest 
to be permitted to proceed to Trieste. — I am transferred to 
Vienna. — My Gaiters and their Disposal. — Correspondence 
with the Austrian Government. - - - - 43 



CHAPTER IV. 

Application to the Austrian Commanders for Passes to 
their respective Camps. — How frustrated. — Klapka's Sortie 
from Comorn. — Military Pusillanimity. — Summons to attend 
at the Stadthauptmannschaft. — Am replaced under Arrest. — 
An Order is read to me from Marshal Welden directing me 
to quit Vienna, and the Austrian Dominions, within twenty- 
four Hours. — Character of my Conductors. — Nature of our 
Conversation. — Perils environing the Austrian Monarchy. — 
Character of the Imperial Family. — My new Position, and 
the Train of Benection evoked by it. — Description of the 
Mode by which I eluded the Austrian Police. — British Be- 
presentatives at the Court of Vienna, Sir B. Gordon, Lord 
Ponsonby. — Erroneous Impressions formed by both the 
Austrian Court and People as to the True Principles that 
actuate the Nation through such Media. — Enhancement in 
Price of Provisions throughout Austria. — Description of 
Ober (Esterreich. — State of Agriculture. — My Boute. — Ar- 
rival at Scharding. — Scene at parting with my Conductor. — 
Reception at Neuhaus. — Social Aspect of Bavaria. — Utter 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Uselessness of a British Ambassador at Munich. — Life of an 
Attache. — Scene between the American Minister and Prince 
Schwarzenberg, —Munich. — Road to Innspruck. — Description 
of that City. — Austrian Spies. — Road through the Passes of 
the Tyrol.— A Croat Officer.— The Italian Tyrol.— Trento.— 
Verona, Maestra, etc. — Italian Landlord. — Am invited by the 
Austrian Officers to join their Circle in the Evening. — Un- 
pleasant Discussion and its Consequences. — Venice and the 
Bombardment. — The Venetian Deputies. — Tranquil Appear- 
ance of the City. — Treviso. — Review the Site of Charles 
Albert's Campaign. — Arrival at Trieste. — Am informed by 
the Vice-Consul that the Austrian Government has some 
Inkling of my Designs. — Observe a Vienna Police Agent at 
Lloyd's — Withdraw, and go on board a Steamer departing 
for Corfu. — The Austrian Lloyd's and the Economy of their 
Steamers. — On reaching Corfu receive Tidings of Gorgey's 
Defection. — Wait for a Confirmation. — None arriving, cross 
over to Albania with the View of re-entering Hungary - - 64 



CHAPTER V. 

Land at Syada in Albania. — British Vice-Consul. — Proceed 
to Philatris. — Economy of an. Albanian Household. — Hospi- 
tality of the Primate of Philatris. — Sketches of Albanian 
Scenery. — The Greek Church in Albania. — Route to Janina. — 
Description of the Town and its Vicinity. — The Pindus 
Range. — Scene at Triakhana. — Turkish Commissioner of 
Justice. — District of Grebna. — Enter Boetolia (the Ancient 
Macedonia). — Plain of Monastir. — Quarrel with the Guide. — 
How finally settled. — Description of Monasteria. — The 
Pasha. — Intelligence of Gorgey's Defection confirmed. — 
Resolve to proceed to Viddin in Bulgaria, 'where Kossuth 
and the Exiles had sought Refuge.* — Perlipe. — Kuprilik. — 
The Balkhan Range. — Kumanowa. — Vraniya. — Proceed to 
Lescovitza in a Bullock Dray. — Adventures on the Road. — 
Lescovitza. — A Magyar Doctor. — Departure for Nissa. — 
heavy Rains causing the Rivers to swell. — Nissa and its 
Roman Castle. — The Greek Doctor. — Accompany the Turkish 
Post to the Servian Quarantine Station at Alexinitza — Horrors 



\J 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

of a Servian Quarantine. — 'Signs of Progress in Servia. — The 
Physique and Moral Character of the People. — A Servian 
Magistrate. — The Table Land of Servia.— Excellent Military 
Road along the Frontier. — Quarrel with the Suraje. — Another 
Quarantine Station. — Treachery of Guide and consequent 
Detention. — Entry into Viddin. — Am about to be carried 
before the Pasha, when I encounter General Guyon and Mr. 
Longworth. — Am accompanied by the latter to the Pashalic. 
— A Khan in Viddin. — Take up my Quarters at General 
Guyon's. — Sketch of our daily Life.— The Hungarian En- 
campment. - — Interviews with Kossuth. — Description of 
Yiddin. — Conversation with Bern in reference to the late 
War. — Dembinski. — Zamoitzki. — Casimir Batthyany. — Aus- 
trian Spies. — Suspected Assault of Belgrade by the Austrians. 
— Departure from Viddin for that Place in Consequence - 101 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fate of the Majority of the Exiles. — Difficulty in gaining 
the Servian Frontier. — Ragovitz and its Quarantine Estab- 
lishment. — Negotin. — A Railway in Servia. — Rocks of Trajan. 
— Milanovitsch. — Frightful Conflagration. — Passarovitz. — 
Signs of Progress in Servia. — Semendria, and the Scenery 
of the Vicinity. — Belgrade. — Its important mercantile and 
strategical Position. — Servian Relations with Russia. — 
Resort to Stratagem to obtain the Endorsement of my 
Passport by the Austrian Authorities. — Succeed in the 
Attempt, and take up my Quarters at Semlin. — Squalor and 
Disregard to Cleanliness manifested by the Sclave Races 
wherever found. — Description of Semlin. — Embark in one 
of the Danube Steamers for Pesth. — Forbidding Aspect of 
the Country. — Navigation of the Danube. — Carlovitz. — 
Peterwardein. — Esseg. — Mohacs. — A Female Soldier. — 
Pesth. — Destructive Effects of the late Bombardment. — 
Execution of Louis Batthyany. — Austrian Infamy.— Treat- 
ment of the Honveds by Haynau. — Interposition of the 
Author in their Favour. — Danger of his being arrested at 
Pesth. — The Austrians and Wallachs in Transylvania. — 
Urban. —Austrian Officers at Pesth. — The Jews. — Gypsies 



CONTENTS. IX 

of Hungary. — Characteristics of the Magyars. — Position of 
England in reference to Hungary. — Probable Consequences 
of an English Intervention. — An Anecdote of Eussian 
Officers. — Admirable Site of Pesth as a Great Capital. — City 
of Gran. — Comorn, its Fortress, and its Euins. — Gonyo and 
Eaab. — A Danube Fog. — Presburgh. — A Sclavonian Free 
Corps. — False Position of English Officers in the Austrian 
Service, — Digby's Fate. — Being anxious to ascertain whether 
or no my Correspondence is intercepted by the Austrians, 
I proceed to Vienna for that Purpose, with the intention 
of returning to Presburgh the same Evening. — How pre- 
vented. — A Week of Misery, terminating in a Second Im- 
prisonment. — My Treatment under Durance. — Veracity of 
an Austrian Commissioner of Police. — I am sent down 
under Guard to Trieste. — My Money is seized, and I am 
left to find my way to Corfu as I can. — I am providentially 
assisted in the Emergency. - - - - 172 



CHAPTER VII. 

Embark for Greece and the Ionian Islands, via Ancona 
and Brindisi. — Local Wind in the Gulf of Trieste. — A slight 
Swell causes the Captain to put in at Ancona for two Days. — 
Timidity of Austrian Sailors. — Description of Ancona. — 
Effects of a Papal Eegimen. — Fracas between the Frolic Brig 
and an Austrian Frigate. — Brindisi and the Neapolitan Coast. 
— Arrival at Corfu. — The Blockade of the Greek Ports. — 
Capture of Greek Men-of-war. — Dine on board one of them 
in the Harbour of Corfu. — Proceed to Cephalonia. — My 
Attention is called to an Advertisement in the Osservatore 
Triestino, issued by Haynau, in which 5,000 Florins is 
offered for my Apprehension. — Cause of Haynau's needless 
Alarm. — Proceed to Patras. — Adventure at a Cafe. — Descrip- 
tion of the Town and its Environs. — British and Ionian 
Fugitives. — Anniversary of Greek Independence. — Conduct 
of Otho, and the Policy of the Government. — Depart for 
Athens. — Scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto. — Vostizza. — 
Leutraki. — Calimaki. — Corinth. — Salamis Bay, and the 
Blockading Squadron. — Landing at the Piraeus. — Foreign 



X CONTENTS. 

Squadrons. — Athens. — Political Parties. — Opinion of Fo- 
reigners as to the Enforcement of British Rights. — 
Excursions into the Country Districts of Attica. — The Plain 
of Athens. — A Bavarian Colony.— The Royal Palace and the 
Souvenirs of the Greek Struggle. — The Greek Army. — The 
Kiug.— Hungarian Refugees. — Proceed to Syra in the iEgean. 
— Anomalous Character of the City. — Greek Maritime 
Enterprise, — The Cyclades. — Scio — Vourla Bay. — Smyrna 
— Its Aspect from the "Water. — Peculiarities of the Place. 
— The Surrounding Country. — Departure for Constantinople. 
— The Countess Guy on. — Mitylene. — Tenedos. — Distant 
Views of Mounts Athos and Olympus. — Ida. — The Darda- 
nelles and its Castles. — Gallipoli. — The Sea of Marmora - 235 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Constantinople and the Golden Horn. — Optical Illusion. — 
True Side of the Picture. — Hungarian Refugees. — -Pera and 
its Promenades. — The Ramazan and Bairam. — Climate of 
Constantinople prejudicial. — The Author is attacked by 
Intermittent Fever. — The Sweet Waters. — The Bosphorus 
and its Charms. — Impetuosity of the Currents, and the dan- 
gerous Consequences. — Labour Combinations. — Trip to 
Belgrade and its Environs. — Dr. Millingen and Papal Vio- 
lence. — Further Proofs of its Iniquity. — Count F and 

his sad History. — The British Consul-General. — Exposure of 
various crying Abuses. — Specimen of Greek Chicanery and 
British Negligence. — The Wonder is that the Commerce of 
"Western Europe can withstand the unequal Competition 
which Greek and Armenian Fraud has opposed to it. — Our 
Merchant-Captains. — Sir Stratford Canning. — Attempts of 
the Turks to naturalize Manufactures. — Result of these 
Efforts. — How defeated.— Cupidity of Turkish Employes of 
every Rank and Grade. — Examples of the Manner in which 
the State is defrauded. — The Osmanli Character when re- 
moved from Temptation. — Fires at Constantinople. — Their 
Frequency. — Ionian and Maltese Criminals the supposed 
Incendiaries. — Plain of Nicomedia. — Scene in a Caique. — 
Deference paid to the Sex in Turkey. — Military Barracks at 



CONTENTS. XI 

Scutari. — Description of Pera, Galata, and Stamboul. — The 
Mosques. — Slavery in Turkey. — Palaces of the Sultan. — The 
Golden Horn as a Harbour. — Turkish Tobacco. — Impolicy of 
our Eestrictions upon its Use. — Steam in the Bosphorus, — 
Attempt of the Austrian Government to procure the As- 
sassination of Kossuth. — How frustrated. — Take a Passage 
in the Screw-steamer Brigand for Malta. — Ipsara and Anti- 
Ipsara. — Ionian Sea. — Quarantine at Malta. — Cholera. — Ee- 
main a Month in the Island. — Proceed in the Screw-steamer 
Hellespont to England. — Pantellaria. — Cape Bon. — Bay of 
Tunis. — Algiers. — Gibraltar. — The Bay of Biscay and Eoglish 
Weather. — Eeflections on landing in England - - 269 



PKEFACE. 



For the fastidious reader, who demands, and is satisfied 
only, with the supremest elegance of diction — for 
the philosopher, who seeks materials for historical 
induction, as soon as the lapse of time shall have 
rendered the process more dispassionate, who requires 
a delineation of the idiosyncrasies of peoples and 
individuals, no less than an esoteric insight into the 
causes productive of the popular fermentation — for 
the liberal politician, who may look forward to a 
bounteous feast of information, either in respect to 
the advancement of his principles, or to their heroic 
assertion, this little book neither was, nor could be 
written. 

Yet, it is hoped that each and all may derive from 
its perusal a certain degree of instruction and interest, 
where they are prepared to regard it in an indulgent 

b 



XIV PREFACE. 

spirit, and with a disposition to overlook the imper- 
fections to which the suddenness of the occasion has 
necessarily given birth. 

Originally, the work was not intended for publication. 
Its material, in the form of notes, was preserved, rather 
to refresh the Author's recollection, than with the view 
of being arranged to meet the public eye. 

An unlooked-for contingency has rendered its pub- 
lication a paramount duty; and, from a paramount 
duty no free-born Englishman can, or ought, to shrink, 
whatever be the cost. A journal, grown hoary in 
political infamy, has stepped from out its line, as a 
public monitor, to traduce a noble cause and nation, 
— sacred to every Briton — through its most eminent 
citizen. It was not the friends of Kossuth who chose 
to narrow the rights of his unfortunate country, by an 
exclusive consideration of his personal merits, however 
illustrious. It has been reserved for the Times, acting 
under the inspiration of absolutism, to drag forward, and 
endeavour to steep in the mire of its calumny, the 
embodiment of Hungarian expression. The assertors 
of liberty, firm as was their confidence in his unsullied 
purity, knew too well, generally, the danger of hazarding 
the character of a contest for human rights on so 
perilous a die as the conduct of an individual, subject, 
like every one, to human imperfections. To them, it 
appeared monstrous, nay, positively silly, to resort to 



PREFACE. XV 

such a standard of criticism. But no alternative was 

conceded to them. They soon found they were left to 

battle on an unequal field. The journal, their adversary, 

knew it lied — knew, too, that its falsehood had been 

disproved, but with a pertinacity, indefensible in the 

promotion of right, excluded all refutation from its 

columns, and proceeded in its career of traduction. Its 

charges and insinuations, a thousand times belied, have 

been periodically re-produced, as the struggle from time 

to time became critical, and have since been persevered 

in with the most unblushing effrontery. In vain did 

the persons, who only could authenticate or gainsay 

the assertions to which it afforded currency, give them 

one after another an emphatic contradiction. It heeded 

neither person nor thing, so long as they refuted its 

calumnies ; and suffered not their antidotes to see the 

light. Iteration, once the motto of a barefaced Irish 

agitator, was unscrupulously dragged from the obscurity 

into which British intelligence had consigned it, and 

with the equally celebrated apophthegm of Danton, was 

employed to serve a threadbare but still appropriate 

purpose. 

Conscious of the peculiar constitution of the English 
mind, but too well aware of its cautious and dilatory 
habits of induction, it has sought, by iteration, to render 
eventually palatable what had long been rejected with 
disdain. Decies repetita placebit has been the role it has 
assigned to itself. Shrewdly perceiving that the crassest 



XVI PREFACE. 

and most opaque of its readers would finally discover 
the drift of its diatribes, it resolved to diversify its aims, 
by calling into requisition the services of the perverse 
sycophants to be found in every community, who, in 
return for the permission of " beholding themselves" in 
its columns, are ready to act as its jackals; nay, more, 
if possible, to go beyond it in vituperation. 

There are those who doubt the very existence of these 
contributors, who believe that they are sham Corre- 
spondents, puppets whom its Editors put forward the 
better to delude a too confiding public; but I, less 
reliant on human perfectibility, am quite content to 
believe that a Great Metropolis numbers among its 
inhabitants a sufficiency of unworthy individuals. To 
the uninitiated it must have been clear, at the outset, 
that the articles of the Times were either a malignant 
attempt to defame a great nation through an attack on 
the character of its greatest citizen, or a magnanimous 
effort to expose an impudent impostor. Fortunately, 
no sophistry or wriggling can extricate it out of the 
dilemma. How far the latter was its purpose, I shall 
not stop to inquire. The Public at large are now in a 
position to judge. Independently of its notorious ten- 
dencies, and its equally notorious associations, its ante- 
cedents debarred it from engaging with clean hands in 
such an investigation. Besides, for arriving at the 
truth, neither malice nor a suppression of facts are 
necessarily constituent elements. The friends of Kossuth 



PREFACE, XV11 

m 

can afford to be generous. Satisfied with vindicating 
his reputation from the aspersions so malignantly cast 
upon it, they do not seek to pry into the mysteries of 
Printing-house-square, or to inquire into the character 
of its parasites. They are quite content to wait and 
see that huge automaton collapse of itself, or perchance 
be reformed before the awakening perception and indig- 
nant expostulations of those who have been hitherto 
its dupes. There is something far more rotten and 
corrupt than the Corporation within the precincts of 
the City. But a truce to the grounds for the appear- 
ance of this work, and a truce, therefore, to further 
animadversion upon the Times. As yet, I have only lifted 
the visor, let them beware ere they compel me to tear 
off the mask. 

To those of my readers — and there will be such 
— to whom my adventures may appear to savour of 
knight-errantry, I have only to say : Place yourselves 
in the position in which I then found myself; imagine 
yourselves excluded from a country, simply because, 
avoiding all participation in Court favour, and every 
desire of basking in the smiles of Princes and Ministers, 
you manifest a disposition to promulgate the truth in 
its simplicity. Picture to yourselves obstacles closing 
you in, like a wall, on every side; suppose the 
guardian of military law chuckling to himself at 
having thwarted your individual will ; and if a spirit of 
resistance does not arise within you, to overcome the 



XV111 PREFACE. 

difficulties thrown across your path, I am mucli mis- 
taken in our Saxon character. It was certainly with 
mingled feelings, from w r hich gratification was not 
altogether excluded, that I regarded the obstacles, as 
each followed on another. I knew the pallor that 
comes over despots, when their crimes are dragged to 
light. If the detour I had to make, to regain the 
scene of operations, had been three times as great, I 
should not have hesitated in accomplishing it. 

That I partially failed in the object of my ambition, 
and that I have not so much to record, either of 
Kossuth or his countrymen, as, at first sight, was to be 
expected, was not my fault, but my misfortune. 

Little apparent relation, as the narrative of my 
journey through Albania, Macedonia, Servia, etc., may 
have with the Hungarian struggle ; to have suppressed 
it would have been to disconnect and mutilate the 
thread of my story. It has, however, been compressed 
within as small a space as was consistent with the 
avoidance of that evil, and the furtherance of an idea I 
have simultaneously proposed to myself, — an attempt 
to interest, by my details, many who have been deterred, 
by unfounded rumours of danger, from exploring the 
beauties, and they are many, of the countries I have 
referred to. Visited as they were, moreover, under 
circumstances which rendered economy and the 
husbanding of one's resources a matter of imperative 



PREFACE. XIX 

necessity, they will, perhaps, furnish the reader with 
a clearer idea of the cost of transit, and of his main- 
tenance during its continuance, than a more preten- 
tious authority. 

Lastly, I must apologise to the reader for the egoism 
which unavoidably creeps into every page. Other, and 
abler hands have dilated upon the history of Magyar 
Land and the Magyar, who have .taken an active 
part in the Hungarian struggle; and many, equally 
able and competent to the task, who have not, have 
enlarged upon its aims, its conduct, and its sacrifices. 
I would only refer to the incidents in relation to it 

QUORUM PARS MAGNA FUI. 



London, October 24th, 1851. 



KOSSUTH MD MAGYAR LAND, 



ETC. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Commencement of the Hungarian Struggle. — My own Views 
thereon. — How directed. — Departure from England as Corre- 
spondent of a London Journal. — M. Pulszky. — Hungarian Ke- 
fugees at Folkstone. — Arrival at Paris. — Conduct of the Liberal 
Party in France towards other oppressed Nationalities. — De- 
scription of the Great Highway between Paris and Strasburgh. 
— Bombardment of Eastadt. — Alsace and the Bavarian Palati- 
nate. — Proceed to Carlsruhe. — Political Aspect of Baden. — 
Stuttgard. — The Frankfort Parliament. — Condition of Wur- 
temburg. — Ulm. — Augsburg. — Munich. — Passau. — Linz. — 
Arrival at Vienna. — Political Excitement. — Emasculating 
System of Metternich. 

It was in the spring of 1849, and after the completion 
of a long and laborious literary undertaking, that, with 
a view to recreation, I resolved on a trip to the shores 
of the Mediterranean, as the best calculated to secure 
the two-fold object I had in view; namely, the recrea- 
tion before mentioned, and the collection of materials 
for the fourth volume of my general work on our trans- 
marine possessions. 

Circumstances soon, however, produced a modification 
of my plans. The struggle in Hungary to regain an 
independence, never wholly lost, had elicited the sym- 
pathy of every Englishman of liberal tendencies ; and 
an early identification with her cause had led to my 

B 



2 THE HUNGARIAN STRUGGLE. 

constant attendance at the meetings of the committee 
for the promotion of her independence, which had for 
some time previously been sitting daily in London. 

To nearly every member of that committee was as- 
signed a special department of labour ; and my efforts, 
such as they were, were confined to the use of my pen 
in her behalf. After no long interval spent in this 
manner, a correspondence passed between myself and 
an editor of a leading morning journal, when my ser- 
vices were engaged as correspondent in Hungary. I 
accepted the post with eagerness ; for I longed for the 
opportunity of serving a gallant and oppressed people ; 
and even should I have failed in that regard, I hoped, 
at least, to become the instrument of propagating 
correct information as to the legality of the struggle, 
and of producing an impartial narrative of facts. 

With these views, I was furnished, previous to my 
departure, with a number of letters of introduction to 
Kossuth, Bern, Gorgey, Guyon, etc., by M. Pulszky, 
the able representative of Hungarian interests in 
England. 

That gentleman had formerly filled the post of Under 
Secretary of State in the Hungarian Chancery at 
Vienna, and, at an early age, manifested a degree of ability 
so remarkable, that, even had absolutism and oppression 
continued to hold uncontrolled sway in the person of 
Metternich and his satellites, they could scarcely have 
ventured to reject the claims of a man, who long an 
able publicist, promised soon to become a statesman. 
As soon, however, as the moment had arrived, when, 
through the medium of a legal and peaceable revolu- 
tion, his country had freed herself from the fetters by 
which her energies had long been manacled, he hastened 
forward, regardless of fortune and family, and, to guide 



TREACHERY OF AUSTRIA. 3 

and moderate the impetuosity of political passion, 
accepted that most dangerous of posts, a place in a 
transition government. 

The vanguard of the revolution darting forward, as 
though to pioneer its way, soon, however, discovered 
that the men — the old impediments to progress, albeit 
for a time displaced — had again resumed all their pris- 
tine insolence and treachery, and with freedom on their 
lips, meditated, in her sacred name, and that of the 
now re-called watchword — Austrian nationality — to 
wage anew, though in a different guise, that old hos- 
tility with liberty, whether religious, social, or political, 
for which history had indelibly branded them. 

Pausing for a moment, as if to reconnoitre the ob- 
stacle their too great faith in royal words had till now 
led them to ignore, they returned depressed, perhaps, 
but with faith in their lofty mission ; and taking up 
their attendant train of patriots, boldly started on their 
onward course, and declared before God and the world 
that the nation of which they were the representatives 
now resumed all her ancient rights ; that Hungary was 
de facto and de jure a free and independent nation, and 
renounced from thenceforth and for ever all allegiance 
to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. 

It is not within the province of a work intended 
rather for the perusal of partial friends, as a reminis- 
cence of perilous personal adventure, than a history of 
a memorable struggle, to recite a thrice and better spun 
narrative. It will suffice to remark, that Kossuth had 
already been borne by the force of events from the 
prison, from which he had been only recently liberated, 
to the proudest position a citizen can fill in a free 
country, its Stadholderate ; and that he lost no time 
in selecting as his agents abroad men who, by their 



4 MAGYARS AT FOLKSTONE. 

moderation no less than by their earnestness, had shown 
how clearly they understood the nature of the contest 
in which their country was on the point of engaging. 

To M. Pulszky was accordingly allotted the repre- 
sentation of Hungarian interests in England ; and how 
ably he performed the duty, his friends and enemies 
have been alike in a position to ascertain. 

The Russians being at this moment on the point 
of entering Hungary, the crisis daily became more 
imminent, so that, although I had left private affairs 
in the most admired confusion, I was naturally 
anxious to betake myself at once to the theatre of 
war ; and it was not without difficulty that I was per- 
suaded to wait at Paris for the Magyar courier, who, 
from being acquainted with the most practicable route 
by which a passage could be effected through the 
Austrian lines, offered facilities I did not think it 
prudent to forego. 

On my arrival at Folkstone, I found that a party of 
a hundred and forty Hungarians, accompanied by their 
captain, the whole of whom had originally deserted 
from the Austrian to join the Sardinian army, had just 
arrived from France, whither they had retired after the 
fatal battle of Novara, in the hope of returning through 
England to their own country, and participating in its 
unequal struggle with its gigantic assailants. In France, 
their reception had not been such as they had a right 
to calculate upon ; and they had landed at Folkstone 
with only a few francs remaining. 

A subscription, however, was immediately raised, 
through the active exertions of the Honorable Mr. M., 
and a plentiful dinner was provided for them in a field 
outside the town, a repast to which the half-famished 
men appeared to do ample justice. Means were also 



ARRIVAL IN PARIS. D 

adopted to supply their wants until such time as the 
ambassador had made arrangements for their passage 
back to Hungary; and the South Eastern Railway 
Company, in the most handsome manner, not only 
provided a comfortable shelter for them by night in 
their spacious premises, but furnished them with a free 
passage along their line on their departure. 

On the return of their chief from London, I was 
requested to become the bearer of a despatch to Meszaros, 
the Minister of War, announcing their safe arrival on a 
friendly shore, which I subsequently found means to 
deliver. Before crossing the Channel, I was favoured 
with a sight of the national standard of Hungary, on 
which, beside the other insignia, were represented the 
four great rivers of the country — the Danube, the 
Drave, the Save, and the Theiss. 

No sooner had I reached Paris, than I placed myself 
in immediate communication with the friends of Hun- 
gary located in that capital, including the Count Ladis- 
laus Teleki, M. Szarvady, the intelligent Secretary of 
the Embassy, Mr. Sandford, etc. I could not help 
smiling, after my first interview with the ambassador, 
at the singular regardlessness of money he had dis- 
played in the selection of apartments, at a moment so 
critical to his own personal interests. I afterwards 
became more fully alive to this singular trait in the 
Hungarian character, which is to be attributed perhaps, 
in some respects, to the Austrian monetary system, 
through which the precious metals are almost excluded 
from the circulation; partly, also, to the isolation of 
the country; partly to the quasi primitive mode of 
barter there prevailing, as much as to the national want 
of thrift and foresight. After a stay of some days at 
Paris, during which I remained without tidings of my 



6 APATHY OF THE FRENCH LIBERALS. 

proposed conductor, I resolved to proceed to Munich, 
the place fixed upon for our ultimate rendezvous. Be- 
sides taking letters to the parties most able to further 
my views at Vienna, I was entrusted with the despatches 
of Count Teleki to Count Casimir Batthyany, the Sec- 
retary of Foreign Affairs ; and carried, in addition, a 
number of tiny missives, folded into still more tiny 
dimensions, to all the principal chiefs of the Hungarian 
army and the civil departments. The latter were en- 
closed in a pair of gaiters, destined to play no incon- 
siderable part in my adventures, and were sewn into the 
lining by one of the prettiest of French grisettes. 

Before I lose sight of Paris, I cannot help expressing 
my astonishment at the apathy, to use the mildest 
expression, manifested by the French people during the 
progress of this memorable struggle towards the gallant 
young nation, that, like them, on a never-to-be-for- 
gotten occasion, unanimous in the intensity of their 
will, had thrice arisen, and thrice expelled the enemy 
from their frontiers. Solitary voices were heard, indeed, 
from amidst the silence, sounding forth generous in- 
stincts amid the dreary isolation; but the heart of 
France spake not, and to Victor Hugo in the Senate, 
and the " National " among the press, was it reserved 
alone to vindicate the claims of Hungary to French 
sympathy. 

In analysing the principles which pervade nations 
during the various stages of a great revolution, it will 
be discovered that, although ideas the most alien, and 
motives to action the most dissimilar, are traceable 
throughout the whole course of the flow and ebb of 
the great human tide of passion, in general, notwith- 
standing, they are regulated in their turn by fixed laws, 
and admit even of a tolerably accurate classification, if 



FRENCH VOLATILITY. 7 

we but allow certain exceptions for national idiosyn- 
crasies. Nations, however, in the conduct of a revolu- 
tion, like individuals in matters of personal import, 
must keep in stedfast view some guiding principle, from 
which no collateral considerations should induce them 
to swerve, or they are pursuing a mere will o' the 
wisp. 

Experience shows that from such guiding principle 
will radiate new, yet cognate elements, applicable to the 
various mutations of form a violent impulsion of public 
opinion may undergo. But it is in this view that 
France is to the last degree eccentric. She starts, 
floundering with great ideas borne aloft before her ; but 
she seeks not to inquire by what means they are to be 
supported, when the illusions suggested by inexperience 
have been stripped from off her : the merest incident 
is sufficient to distract her attention from the paramount 
object to which her whole energies have need to be 
directed ; her more generous impulses, which find their 
outlet in proffers of aid and sympathy to oppressed 
nations, during the first scene of the first act of her 
great drama, are the mere spasmodic throes excited by 
a previously unnatural political torpor, and collapse im- 
mediately when they are found, either to be less prac- 
ticable than was originally supposed, or to clash with 
her own immediate interests. 

Hungary humbly craved recognition of Cavaignac; 
she got but the dry crust of a used-up liberality. Rome 
asked not for help; she in vain demanded neutrality 
from De Tocqueville. 

A volatility so fatal in crises so urgent to the weal or 
woe of nations, has lost for France, on the continent, 
whatever consideration she may have formerly earned 
for herself by her own hard-fought and sanguinary 



8 CONDUCT OF FRANCE INEXPLICABLE. 

struggles against the oppression of rulers, and Europe 
had not failed to perceive, even among her masses, the 
actual existence of a latent craving for self-aggrandise- 
ment, whether at the expense of Italian or German 
rights, which the expedition to Rome has since so un- 
mistakeably developed. Wherever singleness of pur- 
pose may be brought to bear upon injustice, it will 
make itself felt through some medium or other. In 
this case, all that Home demanded from her was simple 
quiescence ; when, therefore, the world saw with dismay 
that the liberal party stood inert in the face of that 
dastardly outrage upon a nascent and sister republic, 
and that, instead of uniting their voices into one indig- 
nant protest, they were shrewdly calculating upon the 
spoils that might be shared, at the same time that they 
studiously abstained from involving themselves in the 
odium posterity were sure to heap upon the spoiler, 
then she finally despaired of France. 

The arrow-like directness of the roads throughout 
Central France imparts a feeling of monotony and 
weariness to the inmate of a heavy, ill-arranged dili- 
gence, which is in no way relieved by the unvarying 
character of the scenery; and I can easily conceive 
how the Atlantic voyager would be loth to exchange 
his decade of sea-going perils for the half of ' that 
period consumed between Paris and Strasburg. Some 
three or four years hence the same journey will be 
accomplished by railway in from thirty-five to forty 
hours, and the reminiscences of its former tedium will 
fade away like the quaint dingy old towns that at inter- 
vals now dot the route, and already furnish unmistake- 
able signs of a speedy unregretted decay, or of the 
migration of their inhabitants to the busier haunts of 
industry. In no other country in Europe have the 



RURAL TOWNS OF CENTRAL FRANCE. 9 

towns of mediaeval date so unprosperous and vacant an 
appearance. In England and Germany they are re- 
markable for their quiet, subdued taste; but none of 
the elegancies of modern life are wanting, and some 
local industry relieves them from an utter abstraction 
from the outer world. In Belgium and Holland they 
are not to so great a degree isolated from their younger 
rivals ; and there agriculture diffuses more warmth and 
vitality over a surface everywhere densely peopled and 
well cultivated: but, in France, all these elements of 
support are either entirely wanting, or produce so 
languid an effect, as to be unavailable to check the 
progress of decay. 

Meaux is one of these towns, which not even its 
cathedral seems able to redeem from the sentence that 
has gone forth against it. At Epernay we met with a 
welcome acquisition to our company in the person of a 
native of Baden, residing in the capital of Scotland, 
who had been purchasing extensively of its far-famed 
vintage, and was most anxious that I should bestow a 
practical opinion on the merits of the various specimens 
by tasting each. 

The ancient fortress of Verdun (Verodunum), which 
Ave soon reached, differed little from the towns we had 
passed ; but the scenery quickly improved, and became 
really picturesque as we approached the Belgian frontier, 
and intersected the course of the meandering Meuse, 
which here rolls lazily through the town. A few mo- 
ments only could be snatched, for recalling the historical 
recollections of that once famed stronghold, alternately 
the prey of the French, Spanish, and German con- 
queror, ere we were again in motion, with the prospect 
before us of a nocturnal journey to Metz, to the in- 
conveniences of which my companions resigned them- 

b2 



10 VERDUN AND ITS FORTRESS. 

selves with characteristic apathy. Among them were 
persons of almost every grade of society, yet one and 
all had neglected the brief opportunities which a whole- 
some regard to purification might have readily sug- 
gested ; and even our Parisian fellow-travellers seemed 
to pride themselves on remaining the Great Unwashed 
to the completion of the journey. What an appa- 
rently instinctive aversion have all the Celtic races to 
the use of soap, water, and fresh air ! Even when they 
wash, how imperfectly is the operation performed ! and 
how coyly they wring their hands, as if to protest 
against the harsh requirements of nature ! 

The fortifications of Verdun occupy probably a greater 
extent of ground than her rival of the Moselle • and, from 
the cursory view which I could obtain of the locale, I 
might venture to surmise they would cost an invading 
army a longer time to reduce : but, in beauty of position, 
the latter will be generally allowed to bear off the palm. 
The road by which we entered Metz largely partook of 
all the natural beauties of the country, and the descent 
to the town equally surprised and gratified me. The 
utmost taste has been displayed in adorning that lovely 
spot with the choicest trees ; and I almost sighed with 
regret as our cumbrous vehicle entered the groaning 
drawbridge of the fortress, to bid adieu to that charm- 
ing vista which rock, river, forest, and town, here com- 
bine to form. 

Metz {Divcdurum) possesses so many of the attributes 
of a German town, whether we regard the regularity 
and cleanliness of its streets, or the character of its 
population, that my German companion appeared equally 
astonished with myself when, in reply to our demand 
for breakfast, we were assuied that it should be ready 
tout de suite. If we were to judge, however, by our 



METZ AND THE MOSELLE. 11 

experience on this occasion, of the merits of that con- 
stantly recurring response to all propounded queries, in 
producing the desired result, we felt we would gladly 
have exchanged it for its more peremptory English or 
Italian synonyms. Ferociously hungry as our drive 
had rendered us, we were compelled to wait a full hour 
before the desiderata could be procured ; and, when set 
before us, they demanded our concentrated energies to 
masticate and digest, and when to be paid for, the 
sublimest patience in the liquidation. 

Sallying forth in disgust, we visited, in their turn, the 
stately cathedral, the capacious market, and the well- 
ordered streets and quays, and then betook ourselves to 
the boulevards of the fortress, to catch a glimpse of the 
sparkling Moselle, and enjoy our cigars on the shaded 
ramparts, to the pleasing accompaniment of military 
music. We quitted Metz in the afternoon, taking up a 
number of German peasants, who, after having assisted 
in securing the early harvest of Lorraine, were now on 
their way homewards to reap the tardier offerings of 
autumn. Everywhere the crops, in despite of negligent 
husbandry, gave evidence of unusual plenty, and even 
the Vosges, in unfolding to us their undulating expanse 
of waving white corn, betokened the rapidly approach- 
ing season of harvest and rejoicing. 

On reaching Strasburg, we discovered, to our chagrin, 
that serious impediments, arising from the political com- 
motions in Baden, were interposed to our proceeding by 
railway to that place; and that our best course would be 
to take the steamboat to the station on the right bank 
of the Rhine, opposite Carlsruhe. 

In consequence of this arrangement, we had a few 
hours to spare for lionising in Strasburg. After break- 
fast, therefore, we visited the majestic cathedral, with its 



12 STRASBURG SIEGE OF RASTADT. 

wondrous appendages, the market-place, the statue of 
Guttenburg, and the other notabilia of the town. 

The streets and squares have a very imposing appear- 
ance, and justly earn for the place its high position as 
the third city of France. 

At eleven o'clock the steamer weighed anchor from 
the canal, which connects the town with the Rhine, and 
in a few minutes we were launched upon that noble 
river. Our course lay through a marshy country, ex- 
tending a long distance inland from either bank, the 
horizon being bounded to the west by the mountains of 
Alsace, and to the east by those of the Black Forest. 
The scenery is sufficiently tame ; and, except that it is 
somewhat varied on the east bank by the picturesque 
hills around the celebrated fortress of Rastadt, might 
be pronounced monotonous. As soon as we approached 
Rastadt, it became every moment more and more 
evident that a terrible conflict was there raging. No 
sooner were we fairly abreast of it than the steamer 
was stopped, and the whole scene was brought vividly 
before us. We were now some three or four miles 
distant, so that there was nothing to impede the view 
of the bombardment which the Prince of Prussia, at 
the head of a large force, was directing against the 
doomed citadel. Every shot and shell, ere it was spent, 
returned an echo from the mountains of Alsace, while 
the hills of the Black Forest, ever and anon lit up 
with the lurid flame of the booming artillery, yielded 
an impression in strict consonance with the scene in 
progress in the immediate vicinity. 

On resuming our course, we soon approached the 
Bavarian Palatinate, a country that nature would seem 
to have allotted to France by a sufficiently bold line of 
demarcation, but one that she has peopled with as 



INSURRECTION IN BADEN. 13 

sturdy and stolid a race of Swabians, as Wurtemberg 
itself. At the first station of this incongruous territory 
we embarked on a larger steamer, and, after waiting to 
land a number of passengers and goods, proceeded on 
our way. 

A gentleman of German extraction, who had all 
along been bent on drawing us into conversation, here 
took occasion to observe, that his countrymen in Alsace 
regard the cession of their country to France with any- 
thing but feelings of satisfaction, no less from the ever- 
varying complexion assumed by French policy, than 
from the lack of sympathy existing between diverse 
races. Yet, as we proceed further north, we find oppo- 
site tendencies at work, and, by the time we reach 
Cologne, hear of a longing for a union in Alsace every- 
where regretted. 

On quitting the steamer we entered a landau plying 
between the station and Carlsruhe. The plain appeared 
fertile and highly-cultivated, considering the minute 
subdivisions of property which prevail. Carlsruhe had 
only been evacuated by the insurgents the day before 
our arrival, and bore the devastating traces of shot and 
shell on the walls of many of its public buildings. The 
place was still in a state of siege, and the Prussians 
were in occupation, but the Grand Duke had returned 
to his palace, and the country promised to resume its 
wonted tranquillity as soon as Rastadt should have 
capitulated. 

The prisons and many of the public buildings were 
choked with persons under arrest, whose treatment 
seemed sufficiently lenient, for the Grand Duke is 
reputed to be anything but a harsh master. Various 
causes were assigned for the late political explosion ; by 
some it was simply referred to the electrical effect 



14 STUTTGARD AND THE SWABIANS. 

worked upon tlie people by the bouleversement of the 
Orleans dynasty ; by others to the outbreak at Vienna : 
but a learned Professor, clad in ponderous armour, 
naively assured me it was to be traced to the heating 
wine, and fiery blood of the south. 

Carlsruhe, like most of the German cities built to 
order, is constructed after a very regular plan ; and the 
public buildings are so grouped as to produce a fitting 
effect, yet the want of animation and vitality in its 
ensemble is very perceptible. Among the more remark- 
able public edifices are the palace, to which are attached 
handsome gardens and shady groves, the observatory, 
the museum, and the great church. The railway station 
is one of the largest and most complete in Germany, 
and, judging from appearances, greatly disproportionate 
to the requirements of the place. The line not being 
as yet completed to Stuttgard, we proceeded to that 
place by diligence through a fertile undulating country, 
interspersed with several important towns, including 
Ludwigsburg, a royal residence, presenting everywhere 
an appearance of cleanliness and activity. 

We entered Stuttgard on a Sunday morning, and, 
after partaking of the spare breakfast of the country, 
inspected the palace and its magnificent grounds, the 
cathedral, etc., and embraced the coup ctceil of the city 
from the hills, within which it is embosomed in the 
form of an amphitheatre. 

The squares and streets of Stuttgard are spacious, 
well kept, and adorned with some very handsome public 
buildings. 

Wurtexnberg we found agitated by political excite- 
ment from its centre to the very extremities, and a 
second insurrection was daily looked for with anxiety, in 
order to rid the country of its perfidious ruler, who had 



GERMAN RAILWAYS. 15 

already broken, within two months, most of the pledges 
he had contracted at the beginning of that period. 

The remnant of the parliament of Frankfort, coerced 
into the abandonment of the Paulskirche, had, for the 
last fortnight, taken up its residence in the capital of 
Swabia : but the fates had already doomed it to dissolu- 
tion ; and, on receiving his orders from Vienna, the king 
had commanded the members to quit Stuttgard without 
delay. Such was the finale of that half-serious comedy, 
in the earlier scenes of which kings disdained not to 
play a part when their sceptres were as unstable as nine- 
pins, yet were now ostentatiously eager to consign to 
ridicule and oblivion ! 

The railway from Stuttgard to Ulm passes, for the 
most part, through the charming valley of the Neckar, 
and then, by comparatively easy gradients, ascends the 
Itauhe Alp, until it reaches the valley of the Danube. 
In consequence of the cuttings and tunnelling in the 
hills, its construction cannot fail to have been prodi- 
giously expensive; but the question of cost scarcely 
enters into the consideration of a German government 
in public works, as the palatial edifices, called, with a 
pleasant humility, stations, everywhere amply attest; 
nor can there be a doubt that, with the exception of the 
short lines, where the country admits of the rails being 
laid down without a cutting, the receipts of the German 
railways will not meet the current expenses. 

In entering Wurtemberg, the traveller cannot fail to 
be struck with the dull, lead-like physiognomy of the 
people, and the utter absence of all personal beauty 
which prevails from the western frontier to the Austrian 
boundary. One scarcely, indeed, traces the German 
features in the Sclavonic-like build and bull-shaped 
head of the Swabian. 



16 A POLITICAL DISCUSSION. 

In our progress up the Rauhe Alp, we obtained a fine 
view of a portion of the French territory in Alsace, soon 
after which the bracing air suggested repose to one so 
thoroughly wearied as myself with passing in succession 
so many sleepless nights (night being usually the time 
selected for commencing a long journey on the conti- 
nent) ; and I had fallen fast asleep, when I was at 
length aroused by the shrill voice of the guard, an- 
nouncing to some gentlemen loitering on the steps of a 
roadside inn, that there was an Engldnder inside. Now, 
by reason of our seldom frequenting this line of road, 
and its own inherent isolation, we are, when we appear, 
looked upon as so many lions for native diversion, and 
are consequently at a high premium. Sensible of my 
importance under this aspect, I assumed rather a non- 
chalant air, when solemnly invited to join the party of 
sportsmen to whom the guard had announced my 
nationality. They were not, however, to be diverted 
from their purpose by my affected shyness; and the 
guard protested he would wait, however long a time we 
might consume over the repast laid before us. 

I was somewhat taken aback at the political interro- 
gatories of my friends, more especially when they came 
to question me as to the actual power possessed by the 
people of England. What and how great or little that 
is, we are so rarely accustomed to test in its practical 
application, that one is really at a loss to reply unless 
indeed we boldly aver that our constitution is, in many 
respects, a well-organised sham. Even were we to 
assume the fact, which experience daily belies, that our 
great representative assembly, as at present constituted, 
is an adequate reflex of public opinion, still it is as clear 
as the hills, that much of the vitality of the legislation 
founded on so partial a basis evaporates in its transition 



OUR ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. 17 

to its final depository — the executive power — and is 
frequently interpreted in a non-natural sense. 

Were the banks of our representative system further 
extended, in the proportion education is becoming 
diffused among the masses, and made to present the 
smallest possible amount of curve, an army of lawyers 
and technologists would soon be at work to gnaw out 
bays, gulfs, and perhaps bights, until it had once more 
become more picturesque perhaps, but again inadequate 
to political exigencies. 

They must, then, be either idiots or knaves who deny 
to any tax-payer, who can write and is of legal age, the 
right to which nature reserved him. "We must have 
septennial Reform Bills, if necessary, until the middle 
classes are allowed to enjoy the inalienable right, of the 
exercise of which they are to this day deprived — a share 
in the executive government of the country. At present 
we are only represented by Under-Secretaries or clerks 
in the minor offices of state. In every other country in 
the world, despotic or republican, the burgher class is, 
cceteris paribus, preferred above the higher. 

In theory, we are the ruling power ; but it is a very 
sorry theory ; for if we attempt to grasp anything more 
substantial, we are peremptorily told to "move on." 
Now and then we are exposed to direct insult ; for 
instance, when a Premier gets up, and coolly idealizes 
the whole British people as if it were some Mrs. Harris, 
whose opinion is no sooner invited than it is to be 
ascertained, and then dares to speak of this imaginary 
people as being immoderately attached to aristocratic 
traditions and averse to all change. You and I, perhaps, 
long for some opportunity of showing him how grossly 
he defames us ; but we are mere units, and, if we were 
thousands, we might strive long enough before we set 



18 ULM AND ITS CATHEDRAL. 

in motion those millions of ants, who are too absorbed 
in their material progress to think of the shape they will 
give to their emanations. 

And thus, in the middle of the nineteenth century, 
we find, in England alone, we have no less than sixty 
small towns sending representatives to Parliament, which 
you and I would efface from the political map, for the 
very good reason, that they are strictly agricultural 
boroughs, and are generally the property of one or two 
great landed proprietors, both of which interests are 
either already represented in the counties or through the 
other house of Parliament. 

From the time of our departure from the inn no long 
interval elapsed ere we reached Ulm, a town of mediaeval 
date, and one of the most picturesque it was ever my 
lot to behold. The cathedral towers above the town in 
a style of massive grandeur, such as is seldom seen on 
the continent. The houses assume, perhaps, hardly so 
antique an appearance as those of Chester ; but, in their 
loftiness, beauty of proportion, and in the noble effect 
they produce, they far surpass them. The federal 
fortress of Ulm, important from its close proximity to 
the French frontier, and long since remarkable for its 
strength, has lately received considerable accessions, 
and now commands the road along the mountains, the 
town, and the valley of the Danube. 

Ulm was occupied at this moment by Bavarian, 
Wurtemberg, and, I believe, Prussian troops. In quit- 
ting it, we passed over one of the fine bridges here 
thrown over the Danube, already a considerable stream. 
No sooner had I fairly emerged from the outskirts than 
I discovered, to my consternation, that I had been 
duped by the maitre d'hotel, at which I had dined, into 
the belief, that the sorry vehicle, in which I was now a 



TRICKS UPON TRAVELLERS. 19 

passenger, was the only one plying between Ulm and 
Augsburg, notwithstanding that there was a diligence, 
a far more rapid mode of conveyance. In consequence, 
I was destined to spend the afternoon, night, and some 
hours of the morning on the route. 

We passed some very pretty towns, adorned with 
fine churches, and streets kept in the greatest order. 
At the second of these places we rested some hours. 
During the night, our road lay, for many miles, through 
an extensive forest, which we did not leave in the rear 
until break of day. Early in the morning the actual 
diligence passed us, having been scarcely half the time 
on the road, and I began to entertain some fears that 
we should be too late for the Munich train, which were 
agreeably relieved, when, on our arrival, we discovered 
that we had an hour to spare. 

A curious trick was played upon me here by a person 
connected with one of the principal hotels. He had 
already recommended the house he frequented, and I 
thanked him for his attention, little dreaming of his 
meditated onslaught on my luggage. "While, however, 
I was absorbed in admiring the stately quaintness of 
the ancient city of Augsburg, and, on descending 
from the vehicle, was hastily interrogating the landlord 
of one of the hotels as to the hour of departure, my 
luggage had mysteriously disappeared. In vain I en- 
quired of the bystanders to what place it had been 
removed; no one had noticed its disappearance, and I 
began uneasily to reflect, that if it was not already lost 
beyond discovery, I should be at least detained here for 
the day, when it occurred to me to go in quest of 
my fellow-traveller, whom I at length found with all 
my traps in his room. I explained that I had never 



20 CENTRAL PLAIN OF BAVARIA. 

intended to remain at Augsburg; and, ordering its 
removal, started immediately for the station. 

On my way, I observed numerous reminiscences of 
the times of Charles V., in the shape of arches and 
monuments. The Augsburg, like all the railway sta- 
tions, is perfectly out of character with the largest 
amount of traffic ever likely to exist on the road ; yet, 
as the country which the line traverses is perfectly level, 
it must be reckless management alone which will cause 
a failure. 

The great central plain of Bavaria, including within 
its limits the country between Ulm, Augsburgh, Mu- 
nich, and Passau, is most favourably adapted for a 
continuous line of railway ; for it presents scarcely an 
undulation along its entire surface. On reaching Mu- 
nich, I hastened from the magnificent station to the 
Ober Polinger, the hotel fixed npon by the Magyar 
courier as a rendezvous. As he had not arrived, I 
determined on proceeding alone the same afternoon, 
and left by the malle-poste for Passau. Our road lay 
through the great plain already referred to, but com- 
prehended, in addition, a view of the Salzburg moun- 
tains on the east, and those of Franconia on the west. 

An English traveller, ere he has been seated long in a 
Continental diligence, arrives at the conclusion that 
any change must be for the better. It is not because the 
vehicle is much less comfortable in the interior than 
our mail-coaches were formerly ; but there is an utter 
absence of the elements necessary to form an harmo- 
nious whole. Let us look how the case stands. First, 
we have the clumsiest vehicle in the world ; the clumsiest 
and most spiritless of horses ; a loutish coachman, who 
delights in cracking a whip fitter to drive a span of 



A CONTINENTAL DILIGENCE. 21 

Cape oxen, than a diligence and four ; a guard, equally 
devoid of intelligence, who glories in blowing a most 
uncouth horn : secondly, gear always at sixes and 
sevens ; to which, if you add dusty or indifferent roads, 
you will form a picture of travelling in Bavaria. 

We passed through several of the charming little 
towns which characterise Central Germany, but the 
aspect of nature was unvarying in the extreme, until 
we arrived within a few miles of Passau, and approached 
the banks of the Inn, where smiling vineyards and 
apple-orchards heralded our advent into a new region. 
We snatched a hasty breakfast at Neuhaus, a place I 
had afterwards reason to remember, and then traversed 
a road more picturesque and beautiful than any we had 
seen for many a long day. Below us rolled somewhat 
impetuously the silvery Inn, laving banks of exquisite 
loveliness. Here and there some ivy-clad castle, still 
proud in ruin, and surrounded by a sylvan landscape, 
burst upon the view. Anon the winding river coquet- 
tishly changed its course, and became metamorphosed 
into quiet lake-like reaches, while the road, beset with 
gladsome cottages, wound in cork-screw fashion round 
the sinuous stream. 

In entering Passau, a most magnificent view of the 
mighty Danube diverts the enraptured traveller. Since 
we left her at Ulm, she has received the tributary 
waters of the Lech, the Altmiihl, the Nab, and the 
Iser ; and from Batisbon downwards she can float the 
smaller steamers. 

Passau, like most of the larger towns of Bavaria, 
boasts of a collegiate establishment and a splendid cathe- 
dral, the interior of which is most gorgeously adorned. 
In its streets and squares, it resembles most of the other 
cities of Germany ; but in its picturesque position, and 



22 PASSAU AND THE DANUBE. 

the rural charms of its vicinity, it stands almost un- 
rivalled. The traveller generally seizes the brief in- 
terval that elapses between his arrival and the departure 
of the steamer to take a hot bath at the establishment 
on the other side of the river, which is anything but 
unwelcome after many days of uninterrupted travelling. 

The grand scenery of the Danube reaches its culmi- 
minating point a little below Passau, where it receives 
the waters of the Inn. I have since traversed its banks 
in various degrees of longitude, and have, therefore, 
had ample opportunities of comparing it with its western 
rival, and have no hesitation in pronouncing, that, be- 
tween Passau and Linz, and Belgrade and Orsova, 
there is no river in Europe to approach it in the sub- 
limer features. At one time reflecting on its limpid 
surface ruined castles, rocks, and forests ; at another, 
leaving mountains and rocks far in the back-ground, 
and presenting instead a verdant expanse of vineyard or 
corn land; now bearing on its bosom rude timber-rafts 
md bullock-barges, plied by boatmen in fantastic cos- 
tumes ; at another point contracting into the narrowest 
gorge-like channel, with towering grotesque rocks, im- 
pending as if to arch it ; anon exhibiting a cheerful 
village, and its extending farm -yards ; anon a series of 
sloping vineyards ; now placid lake-like reaches ; now 
shallows of sand, or equally hazardous rapids; again, 
bold and almost unfathomable depths; now flowing 
past princely palaces, or far-spreading convents ; again, 
enclosed by huge perpendicular masses of rock, lit up 
by the sun into a thousand fantastic colourings. In 
short, always changing, and yielding momentarily fresh 
and ravishing objects of admiration to the astonished 
traveller. 

Such is the Danube here. Seven miles below, it is 



TERRORISM AT LINZ. 23 

the very antipodes of this description ; therelt is a surly 
whimsical river, still abounding in shoals and shallows, 
but intersecting dreary marshes as far as the eye can 
pierce, and its only distinctive feature an occasional 
change of bed. 

The bounds of the Austrian territory are distinguished 
by posts placed on the banks of the river, and painted 
with the odious Imperial colour, — black and yellow. 
The panorama of Linz, the capital of Ober QEstreich, 
presents itself immediately on entering a bend of the 
river. There our luggage, more especially books, was 
rigidly examined, and I all at once gained an insight 
into the depth of Austrian financial debasement. 

The precious metals, always excepting the copper 
kreutzer, were nowhere to be found, the smallest change 
even as low as Z\d. English, was given in paper. 
Terrorism pervaded the district. No man was allowed 
to discuss politics; and if two of the most intimate 
friends were overheard canvassing the merits of such 
and such a person, or such and such a measure, by the 
spies to be found in every place of public resort, they 
were in imminent danger of being hurried off to prison. 
All commerce was at an end; for all confidence had 
vanished, and suspicion had taken her place. 

After scanning for some moments a physiognomy 
anything but German, among the company at the hotel, 
I ventured near the object of my curiosity; he turned 
out to be a Magyar, and intimated, in course of con- 
versation, that the most conflicting statements were in 
circulation as to what was transpiring in Hungary, but 
that all disbelieved the Austrian version, in consequence 
of the severe measures taken to prohibit the spread of 
intelligence. 

Linz is a very well-built town, with one of the finest 



24 ENTRY INTO VIENNA. 

squares, called the Graben, to be found in Austria. It 
is much frequented by pleasure-seekers, and justly, for 
the scenery of the contiguous country, whether inland 
towards Styria, or along the banks of the river, is, in the 
highest degree interesting. 

After passing Linz, the traveller embarks in a larger 
steamer, and soon enters on the confines of Unter 
CEstreich. Ere long the spire of St. Stephen's is seen 
to loom in the distant horizon. We landed at a station 
some two or three miles distant from the city, for the 
Danube here leaves Vienna to pursue a more northerly 
course, and does not admit of a nearer approach. 

The western faubourgs present little to interest the 
stranger; and the only object to excite the attention 
were the ravages occasioned by the recent insurrection, 
the traces of which were still everywhere visible. As we 
approached the heart of the town, commonly denomi- 
nated ct the city," we were struck, notwithstanding the 
irregularity of their contour, with the lofty proportions 
of the houses and public buildings, an impression con- 
siderably heightened by our sudden entrance into the 
Stephen's platz, the focus of Viennese grandeur. 

Having been recommended to an hotel in the Leo- 
poldstadt, we bent our way thither, and soon began to 
study the state of public feeling, an undertaking by no 
means difficult in the then prevailing excitement. The 
pulse of the people had long stood at fever heat, and not 
all the official bulletins with their studied mendacity, 
nor all the well-executed lithographs in the print-shops, 
that portrayed the Austrian army everywhere trampling 
upon its recumbent foe, could banish the all-pervading 
conviction that an ill-disguised hoax was being perti- 
naciously played upon the besotted citizens. 

Yet none could gainsay that the modern Machiavelli 



SYSTEM OF METTERNICH. 25 

had perfected his singular destiny. Humanity bore 
everywhere its sickening traces. Absent though he 
might be from the laboratory, his spirit triumphed still 
in his successors. There he sat, still the guiding 
automaton. What if Gentz were supping with Pluto, 
Werner still survived to proclaim the divine right of 
kings, and to make men crouch before the abstractions 
he had set up. All those chymical processes, which had 
emasculated the soul of man, were again in motion, 
distilling drop by drop from the mental pores. 

That infamous market, where the robbed senses of 
humanity had so long been trafficked in, had been closed 
only for a brief interval ; what, if a resistless impulse of 
the popular will had for a time reinstated man in his 
pristine dignity, he was again despoiled of all his 
spiritualism, and the same system which he fancied 
he had overthrown was again in full activity. Hence- 
forth nature seemed to decree that any remnants of 
political energy should alternately subserve the anarchy 
of despotism, or combine to exhaust their force in the 
paroxysms of an anarchy scarcely less fatal, — that of 
the revolution, 

Nor was the loss of the spiritual elements compen- 
sated by the baser triumphs of materialism. Foreign 
commerce scarcely ever existed on that ungenial soil; 
and domestic commerce, always palsied by monopolies, 
was now forbidden alike from road and river, such were 
the insatiate demands for the conveyance of the sol- 
diery. The towns appeared to be converted into camps ; 
the country to be the area on which men were to march 
from place to place. Already conscription followed 
quick on conscription, and blubbering children were 
torn from the plough to moan unheeded beneath ram- 
parts, or to cover war with what quixotism had covered 

c 



26 AND ITS EMASCULATING TENDENCIES. 

chivalry — contempt. Think not monkery and priest- 
craft were all this time cowering after their recent 
appearance from their hiding-places. Demure a month 
ago, they are already defiant and truculent. They 
are always at home at the death-fete of liberty. Soon 
they feel the cord will be drawn still more tight, and 
they shall then reap a share of the spoils in enlarged 
concordats — perhaps the right of persecution. 

Aye! but why wear so ghastly a laugh all men alike? 
Ah ! the Russian. "Well, but you have always been 
his slaves. Your Machiavelli was always his middle- 
man. To him he long ago surrendered your honour ; 
you have kept your territory, but by no allodial right. 
You were his serfs, whether it were to march against 
the high-souled Mussulman, or his vanguard, to quench 
nascent freedom in the West. Ah ! you laugh, 
gamester-like : it is your last die. Well, you have 
won. The Muscovite will spare you once more ; but 
where are his wages ? Wallachia and Moldavia ! Al- 
ready he lords it over the north of the Danube, your 
birthright. And you, too, laugh; for you have no 
longer a country. Austria is the Caesar's, not yours. 
The Sclave, though a bear, may be generous. Well; 
sit there, and brood over anarchy. 

The age of alchymy, a tale of the past in Western 
Europe, yet lingers in the East, aiding the tyrant to 
abstract his quotidian essence from human intelligence. 
Hark ! from every quarter of the horizon issue sweet 
strains, and Strauss, lord of the galops and waltzes, 
revels fitly on the unearthly scene, while a blood-suck- 
ing bureaucracy are forging anew their fetters. Melody, 
as in China, soothes the opiate-tranced soul, and drowns 
the groans echoed from the dungeons of Spilberg. Yet 
but three months since, and Strauss warbled nobler 



IMBECILITY OF THE VIENNESE. 27 

music — strains, breathing a future for his kind, yet 
their notes have already faded on the ear, and the 
iron hoofs of tyranny are once more rampant in high 
places. Thrice unhappy Viennese ! why did ye linger 
over pseans, when ye should have shouldered the 
musket ; or chant Jo triurnphes ! in the place of the war 
song ? Is history ever to be profitless, and did ye 
think ye had slain the snake ye had but scotched? 
Not even a Bern can drag ye from the slough of imbe- 
cility. Fools ! has not your history alternately been a 
tragedy and a comedy ? Why speculate on the unity of 
an unreal drama, while Windischgratz, already in 
sight from St. Stephens, is hastening to exhibit you a 
real one ? Soon ye may have part in a stake God 
deigns not in every age for man. Alas ! ye are not his 
soldiers \ his are not yon men in stage properties, with 
flaunting feathers : his are men of modest carriage, but 
iron will ; ye lack them there. 

A rhapsody such as this may be thought inapplicable 
even to scenes like these. Stay, sober reader, tyrants 
were all this while indulging in stilted sentences, and 
peoples had found vent for their pent-up passions only 
through a similar medium. 



28 LETTER-OPENING IN AUSTRIA. 



CHAPTER II. 

Author's Reception by the Police. — Letter-opening Bureau. — 
System of Espionage, and its Effects. — The present Austrian 
Administration. — The Hereditary Nobility. — Attempts of the 
Government to raise a Loan in England. — Financial Position of 
the Country. — Interview with Baron Werner — Mr. Magenis. — 
The American Ambassador. — Interview with Lord Ponsouby. 
— Conversation with Prince Schwarzenberg. — Failure to ob- 
tain a legal Admission into Hungary. — Resolve to attempt it 
in a less regular Form. — Proceed into Styria. 

I had scarcely been twenty-four hours in Vienna, before 
I learnt how systematically her bureaucracy went to 
work, and over what minute ramifications they extended 
their toils. Not the least noticeable of these is the 
Post Office, where, it is notorious that, a bureau is 
established for the purpose of overhauling every foreign 
letter in transitu. To such a degree of perfection has 
long practice conduced to bring the art, that, in nine- 
teen cases out of twenty, detection is impossible ; exa- 
mine every letter you receive as minutely as you may, and 
it is only at intervals, when the veil is thrown aside, 
and you learn the unfortunate correspondent of some 
German journal in the north has fallen into the hands 
of these Philistines, that you can bring yourself to 
believe in its reality. Yet two ambassadors assured me 
that, for years, their local correspondence had been thus 



ELABORATE SYSTEM OF ESPIONAGE. 29 

supervised ; and one, unwilling to employ a courier for 
the express conveyance home of his despatches, was fain 
to accept the agency of the representative of a kindred 
nation. 

Thus enlightened, I did not fail to catch an inkling 
from the mysterious and storm-portending visage of 
M. Brodie, of the Stadthauptmanschaft, who insisted 
upon my personal attendance at that place, that I was 
far from a welcome visitor ; and it was with some diffi- 
culty that I could procure permission to remain. 
While, however, the authorities betray so laudable an 
anxiety to fathom the epistolary secrets of natives and 
foreigners alike, it must be owned they are equally 
impartial in their inquisition into their daily avocations 
and places of resort. There is not a cafe of any note 
without its spy ; not a hotel without its waiter, who 
will carefully inspect the sancta sanctorum of your lug- 
gage ; not a railway train without its keen observer ; 
nor a railway station without its hanger-on. Still less 
is there a foreign embassy without its domestic traitor, 
and you need not be of an inquisitive turn of mind to 
learn that the penetralia of your own representative 
contains within its walls a hired reporter, by whom its 
secrets are punctiliously transmitted every twenty-four 
hours — aye, and that in one country in Europe, at all 
events, an Englishman's house is no longer his castle. 

You may be prone to inquire of what avail are all 
these finely spun meshes so indiscriminately thrown 
over a vast political area, and how, in the process of 
sorting, each atom is evolved from the mass into its own 
department : but bear in mind that they are elaborately 
systematized, and, though you may often elude them 
through employing their own machinery, you will be 
infallibly worsted in the end. Rather cast an eye on 



30 DESCRIPTION OF THE MEN IN POWER. 

their morality. What a cheerful, joyous country, must 
this Austria be ! how loyal her citizens ! how honest 
her men ! what frank companionship ! what truthful- 
ness of purpose must there prevail ! what soul-inspiring 
deductions must each individual citizen draw, for his 
own edification, from such an administration of the 
interests of the many ! what a tender interest must he 
take in a government which casts its protecting segis 
over him with an attention so distressingly assiduous, 
that he cannot eat or drink, walk, or clothe himself, 
write or be written to, converse or act — one might almost 
say, think or be thought of — without meeting every- 
where that benignly peering eye, which, in his folly, he 
calls malevolent. 

To accomplish his profoundly devised scheme of era- 
dicating every trace of freedom from the soil of Austria, 
Metternich never, at any time, enlisted men from the 
higher walk of rank or intellect into his service. He 
knew full well they would soon be ill at ease, and per- 
haps eventually dethrone him. Gentz hung on the 
skirts of his master, as much of an imitator as a disci- 
ple, but the others were pliant agents he had patiently 
moulded to his will, and employed solely to execute his 
behests. Werner was a man of this class, and Werner 
is filling the same post now. None of them were men 
calculated for office in a constitutional country. In 
England you would find them behind the merchants' 
desk, occupied, perhaps, with settling the preliminaries 
for the departure of the Sarah Ann to Ningpo or Shang- 
hae, or the Roving Mary to the Bahamas. 

With one or two exceptions, their aspect is anything 
but prepossessing ; and they look like men appalled at 
the late popular outburst, more as having broken 
through the dikes they had raised at such a cost of 



THE HEREDITARY NOBILITY. 31 

labour and anxiety, than as if they were persuaded of 
the ultimate failure of their devices to repair them. 
Bach, the Minister of the Interior, is a renegade from 
the barricades, possessed of a surprising elasticity of 
conscience, and noted for his hatred to the Magyar. 
Briick and Kraus are said to be men of probity, but 
one of them is a wild financier, and expects to save his 
country by some supernatural agency, rather than by a 
well-devised economy and the development of its re- 
sources. We must not look to him to furnish the tax 
payer with an account of the annual receipt and expen- 
diture, a methodical and well-digested budget, nor is he 
the man to propose a civil list in lieu of the revenues of 
the imperial domains. 

Enter we on another stage of our inquiry ; the effects 
of Metternich's system on the nobility of the country. 
We have already marked the absence of their participa- 
tion in his great political plot ; we may add, they were 
never called upon to perfect the destiny to which an 
aristocracy, in other countries, has been beneficially 
linked in promoting the social progress of mankind. 
Their career was cut short, like that of the old noblesse 
of France, by one who shrewdly perceived that to work 
out his own schemes, he could not, with safety, permit 
two centres of attraction. Equally too proud and un- 
tamed • to take part in his policy or lie quiet, when 
gorged, as his " happy family," he encouraged them to 
follow the profession of arms, in which they could not 
come into collision with him, or to enlist in the diplo- 
matic service, where they might impoverish their for- 
tunes, in attempting to vie with the wealthier of other 
lands. At times he found an opening for them in the 
church, where he could frock them at pleasure; at 



32 AUSTEIA ATTEMPTS A LOAN IN ENGLAND. 

times lie invented for them a monopoly : lie had better 
have made them pensioners of the state. 

Forbidden to serve in the van of a sound indigenous 
progress, they have introduced either the traditions of a 
foreign and ill-accordant civilization, or clung with 
tenacity to the now effete pomp of the days of Maria 
Theresa. And hence it arises that you search in vain 
for a public opinion, for high-souled intelligence, for 
public virtue, for harmony in the elements that go to 
form the social fabric. In their place you find the 
barbaric pearl of an obsolete chivalry ; detect intrigue 
everywhere in motion, and too often perceive shameless 
debauchery flaunting alongside of virtue with im- 
punity. 

The Austrian government appeared, at this moment, 
most solicitous to procure a loan in Great Britain and 
Holland; a project I was, on many grounds, equally 
anxious to defeat. Even had its principles of action 
been such as to deserve the co-operation of the capital- 
ists of a free country, and responsible as such, its 
notoriously insolvent state, and, what is worse, its more 
than suspected misappropriation of the public revenue, 
would have furnished ample reasons for denouncing the 
scheme. 

Our country, under the influence of a perversity un- 
precedented in the annals of finance, has, during the 
last half century, been tempted by a knot of sordid 
capitalists, only less vile in our eyes than men of the 
Hudson stamp, because they have escaped, through 
some morbid lens of the public eye, its just apprecia- 
tion, to squander some hundred millions of its hard 
earned superfluity over worthless swindling states, while 
the only capital she has advanced her children — well 



OUR FOREIGN CREDITORS. 33 

able to repay her — in the Southern Seas, has been an 
accession of some thousand brawny arms. 

The result shows, that we have reaped as we have 
sown. With the exception of Russia, Prussia, Denmark, 
Sweden, and the United States of America, most of 
which have, and all of which will eventually extinguish 
their debt, every other loan has lost for the country 
fifty per cent, of the original capital : the less we say of 
interest the better. The process has been a very simple 
one. It is a wonder it did not suggest itself, in the 
amptitude of its deductions, to Mr. Micawber. It is 
only complex in the various hues of turpitude it as- 
sumes. 

Your stock is originally denominated Active, and 
active it is, forsooth, and ingenious too ; for it pays you 
interest out of your capital for a year or two, pour vons 
encourager. Suddenly, and as soon as the various in- 
stalments have been received, it assumes the name of 
Deferred. You become impatient under the calamity. 
Presto ! a Conversion is demanded, why, you cannot see, 
till you are wheedled by your own agents into a belief, 
that it is some new way of paying off old debts. You 
give way, but you have sacrificed a portion of your 
capital ; your debtor, with inherent modesty, announces, 
to your surprise, that he considers the transaction to 
have been so profitable, and the stock so safe and de- 
sirable an investment, that he demands a reduction of 
the interest on the reduced capital to the rate of three 
per cent., about what you get for a bond fide investment 
in your own country's stock, with your capital intact. 
He pays you your dividends for half a year, minus all 
sorts of deductions, on every imaginable pretext, till he 
again comes to a dead lock, and your stock is all at 
once Passive ; and you, putting him down for a swindler, 

c 5 



34 AUSTRIAN INSOLVENCY. 

have just bethought yourself of writing the affair off 
as a bad debt, when guano, or some other windfall, 
comes to his rescue. You again take him in hand. 
He always meant to be honest, he says, but times are 
hard, and he coolly proposes another onslaught on your 
capital, and interest on it as reduced, upon your accep- 
tance of which there are a certain amount of dollars 
awaiting your disposal. You have an itch to finger the 
money : you take it. If things go on well, you receive 
your dividend for a time, until the game is played out. 
During this lengthened period, should you have sold 
out, you have, of course, realised about twenty per 
cent, of your original subscription. 

Such is but an average specimen of our foreign credi- 
tors; some are worse, and you have never received 
beyond a year's interest, in which case your capital may 
be said to be sunk; some are better, but ruinous are 
the best, even in this category. Had you, on the con- 
trary, carefully invested your money in one of the many 
openings offered you in the British colonies, you would 
have equally benefited the mother country, colony, and 
yourself. Our more immediate offspring might then 
have approached in wholesome rivalry our first-born in 
America, and exhibited results more worthy of the 
British name. 

Austria has thrice declared herself insolvent within 
the past forty years ; and had she succeeded in raising 
the projected loan, every fraction would have been sunk. 
She cannot now pay beyond five shillings in the pound, 
and only bides her time to declare herself insolvent for 
the fourth time. Owing to her innate faithlessness, and 
perpetual instability, she cannot commute her floating 
debt into stock, or raise the sum she requires to destroy 
a portion of her paper ; for she has no gold to offer, and 



STEPS TO OBTAIN A PASSPORT. 35 

gold shuns to pass her frontier, as if it were a plague spot. 
From her mines she procures scarcely <£50,000 per an- 
num, and the balance of trade is everywhere against her. 

One source of extrication offers itself; but, for two 
reasons, it does not avail her. She might sell her crown- 
lands and state-domains to our capitalists, and, in re- 
turn, she would get our gold; but our operations would 
be hampered at every step by her despotic whims, as 
our profits would be curtailed by her clumsy prohibi- 
tions. Commerce requires ventilation, and droops 
under a hot-house temperature. Moreover, by dis- 
posing of her territory, she would be obliged to depart 
from her system, which would no longer revolve round 
its axis, were she to confide to a diet the settlement 
of a civil list. With truth, then, it may be said that 
her case is desperate. 

One of my first aims on arriving at Vienna had been 
to procure a passport, which should enable me to enter 
Hungary at pleasure. For this purpose, I lost no time 
in seeking an interview with Baron Werner, The baron 
received me with great politeness, but refrained, in the 
absence of his chief, from holding out a promise of com- 
pliance with my request. Some remarks, however, which 
he let fall, as to the devotion of the journal I repre- 
sented to the interests of the Imperial family, led me, not- 
withstanding, to indulge a prospect of eventual success. 

He advised me, meanwhile, to seek out Mr. Magenis, 
secretary to the British embassy, and its vice-gerent in 
the absence of Lord Ponsonby, and endeavour to per- 
suade him to accompany me to an interview with 
Prince Schwarzenberg. I followed his advice, and 
called upon Mr. Magenis. Mr. Magenis is an Irish- 
man — not that he speaks the brogue in any way alarm- 
ingly — and has wormed himself into his place with the 



36 HOW FRUSTRATED. 

success which none better than an Irishman, with his 
supple ductile philosophy and sly superficialism, could 
succeed in accomplishing. He has climbed already 
most of the steps of the diplomatic ladder. It is no 
longer necessary, therefore, for Mr. Magenis, like 
Mr. Heep, to be "very humble." Bat Mr. Magenis is 
the direct antipodes of Mr. Heep. He is, by very 
much, the most important man in Vienna ; and he will 
pity or scorn you, as he is in the humour, if you do not 
of your own accord make the discovery. A frigid man- 
ner sits easy enough on the Saxon ; but the Celt quickly 
betrays his origin in assuming it. They cannot sepa- 
rate bounce from hauteur. 

Thus, when I entered Mr. Magenis' s apartments, and 
found him couched in luxury, indulging in all the 
airs of a Nawaub of the Deccan, I intuitively read the 
lineaments of his mental expression. If you are in a 
genial vein, you will perhaps laugh at Mr. Magenis; 
if you are in a serious one, you will certainly be annoyed 
at his impertinence. Mr. Magenis scarcely appears to 
look upon a British embassy as a fitting place of resort 
for British citizens ; nor does he seem to consider it a 
part of his study, in any way, to further your individual 
interests. A British embassy, sir, was destined for 
obsolete intrigue, for a salle-a-manger to an itinerant 
aristocracy, or an agreeable refuge for a troublesome 
Milesian. Such being its vocation, I need hardly 
say my application was fruitless, Mr. Magenis having 
taken Baron Werner's advice in high dudgeon; and I 
postponed renewing my solicitations until the return of 
Lord Ponsonby, which was then daily expected. 

At a short distance from the British lies the Ameri- 
can embassy. Thither I next directed my steps. In 
the person of Mr. Stiles, the ambassador, I met with a 



LORD PONSONBY. 37 

finished gentleman and a profound jurist. Mr. Stiles, 
as I soon discovered, had directed considerable atten- 
sion to the Hungarian struggle, and the past history of 
that country. He assented readily to the opinion I 
expressed, that it would be difficult to find an impartial 
jurist in Europe or America, who would take other 
than one view of that important question. He had 
been made a medium of communication with the Aus- 
trian government by Kossuth, but the nature of the 
proposals now made by the former was of so imprac- 
ticable a character, supported as they were by the 
Russians, as to appear altogether untenable. 

At length my principals in London, growing im- 
patient at my prolonged stay at Vienna, informed me 
that they waited with anxiety the issue of my plans 
for forwarding them more direct intelligence than it 
had hitherto been in my power to transmit. This 
letter could only bear one construction ; and finding 
that Lord Ponsonby had returned, I immediately 
waited upon him. He received me with great kindness, 
and conversed with me a long time on the Hungarian, 
the all-absorbing question. After imparting his own 
opinion, he was naturally anxious to elicit mine ; but I 
was a diplomatist for the nonce, and saw the necessity 
of withholding it, if I were to accomplish with success 
the object upon which I was now bent — a legal admis- 
sion into the country. 

After the dinner to which he invited me that evening, 
he again entered largely on the same topic ; and as his 
despatches have since been made public, it will be no 
breach of confidence on my part to observe that his 
Lordship' s opinions were diametrically opposed to those 
of nineteen-twentieths of the British people, and that 
his reasoning would have been equally applicable and 



38 INTERVIEW WITH PRINCE SCHWARZENBERG. 

as decidedly antagonistic to the revolution of the Ne- 
therlands against Philip II. of Spain, and the Haynau 
of those days, had he represented the interests of Eng- 
land at the Spanish court. 

His Lordship having promised to write to Prince 
Schwarzenberg, and prefer my request for a passport, 
I waited patiently for a reply ; but on finding that it 
was unfavourable, I resolved on obtaining a personal 
interview with the Prince. I must do the present 
Austrian Government the justice to say that they are 
very accessible, and never resort to unworthy pretexts 
to avoid a conference. 

I found the Prince busily engaged at his escritoire ; 
but he rose and received me with an easy, unaffected 
manner that quite won upon me, and we were soon 
engaged in an animated conversation. If you search 
Europe through, you will scarcely find a man of nobler 
bearing, or a more majestic mien. To say that he is 
the first gentleman of the Continent is only his due ; 
for out of England such men are seldom or never to be 
found. In fact, his aspect is essentially English, per- 
haps from his having so long dwelt among us. He is 
now far advanced in years, yet he is scarcely less 
energetic than ever ; and, judging from his remaining 
attractions, you cease to wonder at the love-conquests 
of his prime. 

" Ah \" he apostrophised me. " Well, you belong 

to the . Now that is a journal I can't, for the 

life of me, understand. Can you explain away its 
monthly gyrations ? Your Daily News and Examiner I 
can comprehend, they are our declared foes ; but your 
journal mystifies us with its intelligence, only to stul- 
tify us with its leaders. Pray what is to be the term 
of its tergiversation ?" 



PARTICULARS OF THE CONVERSATION. 39 

ce And yet, Prince/' said I, " in a recent interview he 
did me the honour of granting me, Baron Werner held 
the directly opposite view." 

" Indeed ! what did he say ?" 

" He said the journal had manifested great devotion 
to the Imperial family." 

" Well, so it may have done. It is true they have 
been of service to us, and perhaps they will be again. 
Lately, indeed, and since we have been victorious, they 
have discovered the justice of our cause. Well, now 
what do you want me to do for you ?" 

" I want you to give me a passport for Hungary." 

" Well, but there is a civil war." 

" I know it, Prince, and am prepared for every risk 
and contingency that may occur." 

" That is always the way with you English. Such 
daring, reckless beings ! I repeat this is a civil war ; 
and your Italian correspondent, by his passing and re- 
passing from camp to camp, greatly hampered our 
operations during the war with Sardinia. Besides, I 
cannot answer for your life for even a day or an hour. 
You are ignorant of Magyar, and you say you speak 
German anything but fluently. Both parties are highly 
exasperated with each other. To both you will be an 
object of suspicion." 

I now discovered, from his manner, and with as much 
certainty as if I had seen the medium of information, 
that the Prince had been duly apprised of my political 
leaning ; and that, in point of fact, he viewed me in the 
light of a political enemy. 

" You want information," he continued, " you shall 
have it. Where is your hotel ? You shall have the 
Wiener Zeitung regularly transmitted to you." 

t€ I am highly obliged, Prince, for your kind offer ; 



40 DETERMINE TO ENTER HUNGARY. 

but, to speak frankly, I fear the people of England will 
not believe the Wiener Zeitung. They require original 
information, and that from the hands of one of their 
countrymen." 

" I am sorry I cannot serve you. Stay ; wait here 
for a few days, and I may be enabled to give you a 
passport for Pesth." 

It was evident that his object was to play with me 
until the war should have been transferred, by the 
combined armies, to the banks of the Theiss. I felt, 
therefore, that no time was to be lost ; and having pro- 
cured Artusa's Map of Hungary, I hastened to the 
money-changers in the Stephen's Platz, to convert my 
Napoleons d'or into Austrian paper. The reader will 
comprehend, in some degree, the bathos of Austrian 
credit at this moment, when I inform him that for those 
coins of the value of 15s. lOd. English, I received, in 
Conventions Miinz, eleven florins, thirty-six kreutzers, 
equal to £1 3s. 2\d. 

I was now resolved upon entering Hungary at all 
risks, regardless of the failure hitherto experienced by 
the numerous German medical practitioners from the 
north, who, though speaking the language of the coun- 
try, and acquainted with every opening by which it 
could be penetrated, had returned unsuccessful. In 
point of fact, the Austrians have from time immemorial 
treated Hungary in the light of a foreign country, al- 
though it is a circumstance they are sometimes pleased 
to ignore, and have most effectually encircled it with a 
perfectly organised military cordon ; hence all the ex- 
perience they had acquired of its localities in time of 
peace, was brought into practical and most serviceable 
requisition during the hostilities. 

With a view to lull suspicion as to the object I had 



AM COMPELLED TO RESORT TO STRATAGEM. 41 

in view, I caused my passport to be vised for Trieste, 
towards which my route really lay for the greater part 
of the way. 

And here I may be allowed to inquire why the pro- 
moters of liberty, in every part of Europe, have been 
denounced by certain mercenary journalists for venial 
deceptions such as this; while their patrons, God's 
anointed, have been allowed to break their kingly words, 
as opportunity may offer, with impunity, and, through 
their satellites, to hang, to shoot, or, what is perhaps 
worse, to immure in dungeons, destined to be their 
graves, the men whose lives they have so strictly gua- 
ranteed ? 

Say, Emperor of all the Russias, whether of the two 
is the most enormous and inexpiable sin — my little 
piece of casuistry, or the wholesale falsehood you per- 
"suaded stockjobbers to endorse? Answer, Kaiser von 
CEstreich, and King of Crown lands, which exceeds in 
villany — my petty flam or your foul and oft-repeated 
perjury ? Tell me, King of the Two Sicilies, where is 
now the constitution you so solemnly and spontaneously 
swore to observe ? Declare, Konig von Bayern, has all 
the chivalry of which you have the heir-loom restrained 
you from abetting a tyrant ? Speak, Kings of Wur- 
temburg, Saxony, and ye other Princes of Lilliput, have 
ye never sworn a he, and dragooned men for too 
practically reminding you of your oaths ? 

And you, Otho of Bavaria, suckled as an archbishop 
in embryo, ill-chosen by the dice for a king, niethinks 
you have sworn fealty to human rights on two sacraments. 
Yet, where are they now? Hymettus spurns you as a 
traitor; Pentelicus frowns sternly on you every time 
you pass her. You pretend to keep to your constitution 
to the letter ; you determined to squeeze out its spirit 



42 IN WHAT RESPECTS JUSTIFIED. 

as soon as the people had dispersed from your palace 
windows. 

Not even your parish-vestry mind, petty Tyrant of 
Hesse, could rescue you from seeking to graduate in 
the honors of iniquity by the side of mightier potentates. 
Descend we a step, and the felon Haynau, the hero of 
Bankside, is presented to our view. But stay, we are 
getting into the Chamber of Horrors, and we have but 
just emerged from the Hall of Kings. 

Henceforth, then, ye journalists, whose inspiration is 
drawn from the wealthy sibyl of Chandos-house, if ye 
value your own consistency, suffer Mazzini and other 
high-minded patriots to assume the name of De Lancy 
or Mynheer von Hartz, if they should thereby hope to 
advance their own or their country's cause, without 
shooting forth your poisoned arrows against a reputation 
you will nevertheless vainly attempt to sully. " Our Own 
Correspondent " necessarily dwells in this glass house, 
therefore refrain from throwing stones. 



COUNTRY BETWEEN VIENNA AND BADEN. 43 



CHAPTER III. 

Baden. — Disabilities of the Austrian Press. — The Hungarian 
Magnates. Their Pusillanimity and Treachery. — Gloggnitz and 
the Styrian Alps.— Details of my Eoute. — Enter Friedberg. — 
Succeed in averting the Suspicion of the Police. — Pinkafeld. — 
New Interrogatory. — A Hebrew Schoolmaster. — Strike direct 
for the Platten See. — Am challenged and arrested. — A Court- 
Martial. — Imprisonment at Friedberg. — Eemoval to Hartberg 
under a Guard.— Their Behaviour. — Critical Position at the 
Hotel at Hartberg. — How I escaped the Danger.— Am sent on 
to Gratz. — Description of the Country. — Refusal of the Governor 
of Gratz to my Request to be permitted to proceed to Trieste. 
— I am transferred to Vienna. — My Gaiters and their Disposal. 
— Correspondence with the Austrian Government. 

The country between Vienna and Baden partakes of 
the characteristics of the great plain of the Danube, of 
which it comprises a section, as far as Gloggnitz, at 
which place the mountains, which have thus far envi- 
roned it, embrace and unite to form the Styrian Alps, 
and there the railway for the present terminates. Along 
the line on either side, the vine is extensively cultivated, 
until you reach Baden, the Leamington of Austria, 
and a place much, frequented by the Viennese. The 
plan of the town, if town it can be called, is very 
irregular ; but the hotels, boarding-houses, and casinos 
are on the same enormous scale as in other German 
places. 



44 COMEDY AND DESPOTISM. 

The attractions of Baden, however, are wholly of an 
extraneous kind; and it is its grounds, its forest-clad 
hills, together with the magnificent panorama of Hun- 
gary, Upper and Lower Austria, Moravia, and part of 
Styria, which you command from them, rather than 
from its archducal palace, summer theatre, and varied 
diversions, that render it so crowded a place of resort. 

Before leaving Vienna, I had been accosted by a 
peculiar-looking old gentleman, by the side of whom I 
had seated myself at the refreshment-room of the station. 
Upon my arrival he was apparently deeply absorbed in 
his book, which turned out to be the poems of a British 
bard, Walter Savage Landor ; but, seeing that I was an 
Englishman, his anxiety to learn the state of public 
opinion in England, with respect to the Russian inter- 
vention, overcame his inclination to read. I discovered 
his nationality in a moment by his ill-concealed chagrin 
at the turn events were now taking, and listened with 
much curiosity to his recital of the disabilities under 
which the Austrian press then laboured. Although 
a pensioner on the bounty of the Archduchess Sophia, 
and attached to the Court by some sorts of liaisons 
with its chiefs, he had ventured to divert his numerous 
readers with some well-pointed hits at its frivolities, and, 
growing bolder, had finally launched some sly political 
inuendos at the measures of the government. From his 
statemeut, it appeared that the young and thin-skinned 
Caesar had immediately sent for him, and rated him 
soundly for his ingratitude ; while the Minister of the 
Interior had duly warned him of the penalties he would 
incur in case he repeated his transgressions. 

Thus were the few waifs and strays of truth which 
might chance to percolate into the public ear hermeti- 
cally excluded, even though in humorous guise; the 



CONDUCT OF THE HUNGARIAN MAGNATES. 45 

English reader will, therefore cease to be surprised, 
when he is told that our friend Punch was, if possible, 
more rigidly tabooed within the Austrian dominions 
than the greater part of the more serious English 
journals. I afterwards discovered that the very existence 
of that hebdomadal laugh -compeller was unknown in 
Hungary. In the latter country, moreover, Galignani 
was then prohibited ; and even in Vienna, anything like 
a dubious tendency in the journals occasionally admitted, 
was sufficient to cause their expulsion, even from the 
solitary casino, that was for the most part supported by 
the friends of the government. 

The great frequenters of Baden, and those to whom 
it was formerly indebted for its chief support, were the 
Hungarian nobility, whose lavish expenditure led to 
corresponding exertions on the part of the Germans to 
entertain them. One of the chiefs of the Palfy family, 
and a man of prodigious wealth, contributed largely 
from his own purse to the musical festivals of the place. 
Now, however, in consequence of his known devotion to 
the interests of their enemies, his tenantry had with- 
held their rents, and he had been therefore compelled 
to curtail his largesses. 

In general, unhappily, the Magnates, with some 
honorable exceptions, had forsworn the ties of nature, 
traditions, and kindred, to take part with the relentless 
foe of that nationality which men are supposed uni- 
versally to hold so dear ; yet Kossuth, with the romantic 
generosity of his character, had forborne from confis- 
cating the estates they had so justly forfeited by their 
truckling behaviour, and they were in general left free 
to act as their morbid tastes inspired them ; and 
yet their names, methinks, will be handed down by 
every Magyar father to his offspring, branded with an 



46 REVIEW OF THEIR POSITION. 

indelible infamy ; nor need the meanest mind envy the 
niche to be filled in his country's history, by the Zichis, 
Esterhazys, or the Palfys. It is difficult, even now, to 
determine what might or might not have ensued had 
they stood by the land of their sires. Gorgey might 
then have remained faithful to his oaths, and Hungary, 
recovering her sons from the service of the foreigner, 
might have, single-handed, hurled back the Cossack to 
his steppes, and dictated her own terms to the Germans 
at Vienna. 

Let not these perfidious men seek to persuade us that 
their Conservative principles on the one hand, and their 
hopeless involvement in debt on the other, offered tem- 
porising as the sole resource in the emergency. 

To the first plea there is a ready answer. The 
constitutional destiny of their country had been left 
undetermined. What right then had they to surmise 
that she meant to throw herself without reserve into the 
arms of democracy ? What principle within them was 
it that whispered her desire for a republic ? Was it 
their vices, subserviency, and extravagance, which sug- 
gested that the many would be uneasy in witnessing a 
privileged class composed of such unworthy items of 
humanity ? Were they the reminiscences of their base 
slavery to Metternich which now recoiled only to urge 
them onwards to treason ? 

Will the other plea better avail them ? Would their 
grateful compatriots have made no sacrifices in their 
behalf, had they enlisted the influence that remained to 
them in the service of their country, instead of that of 
the stranger ? Had they worn so threadbare the once 
powerful panoply of feudal rights, that not a fragment 
survived with which they could make a stand to renew 
it? Was the genius of their country so decidedly 



ARRIVAL AT GLOGGNITZ. 47 

republican, as in their pusillanimous infidelity they 
thought it, that not a return to patriotic impulses would 
suffice to bury former misdeeds in oblivion ? Was their 
prescience of the future so storm-enveloped that it could 
not penetrate the brilliant dawn liberty would have 
assuredly called up from every quarter of the horizon ? 
Had they not, in fine, the experience of all ages to re- 
assure them that, without liberty, agriculture, commerce, 
and every branch of industry must languish ; and that 
with it the most sterile of rocks, the most pestilent of 
swamps, the most noxious of climates, may add its 
quota to the merchant navies of the world ? O Faith ! 
goddess who deignest to smile only on the true and the 
brave who are inspired of thee, say, why didst thou 
form of a pilgrim-band the second nation in the uni- 
verse, and, heart-stricken, turn away thy face from the 
banks of the Theiss and the Danube ? 

On arming at Wiener-Neustadt my passport was 
examined and vised, and at Gloggnitz I left the train. 
I soon found that I had become an object of suspicion 
to a party at the hotel adjoining the station, and could 
not help overhearing the various surmises formed as to 
my designs. My scanty luggage, consisting of a small 
carpet bag and an umbrella, naturally suggested them ; 
and I had to remain for a considerable time before I 
could effect a retreat. At length, watching an oppor- 
tunity, I escaped unobserved, and, after posting a letter 
to Lord Ponsonby, advising him of my project, pursued 
my course through the village. 

The scenery of this narrow valley of the Styrian 
Alps, exquisitely beautiful as it is from whatever point 
you may survey it, in general presents features similar 
to those of the Tyrol, such as finely wooded mountains, 
huge rocks, at times impending as though to crush the 



48 COMMENCEMENT OF MY ADVENTURES. 

passing traveller, picturesque villages, and softly mur- 
muring streams. Everywhere I fancied the people 
divined my errand by their anxious scrutiny and ani- 
mated conversation. The soldiers, notwithstanding, 
suffered me to pass the two roadside posts without 
inquiry ; but, after a walk of three hours, I determined 
to abandon the road, along which I conjectured other 
military posts were stationed at short intervals, and 
climb the almost perpendicular mountain on my left, 
apparently nearly 4000 feet high. The ascent was 
equally tedious, perilous, and laborious; for I could 
only maintain my footing at each step by clinging to 
the trees, and the difficulty was greatly augmented in all 
three particulars by the burthen I had to carry. After 
some hours' exertion, however, I succeeded in gaining 
the summit; and half an hour's additional walking- 
brought me to that little nook of Hungary, some 
distance south of the Neusiedler See, which was from 
hence distinctly visible. There I encountered a young 
peasant who informed me I was already in Hungary. 
Delighted with the intelligence, I liberally rewarded 
him, and pursued a south-easterly course. Twilight 
was fast approaching ; I had re-entered the forest, and 
heard the shouts of the woodmen whom I had startled 
in their solitude. Prudence suggested my seeking a 
shelter for the night, and having at length reached a 
village, I persuaded a gaunt old shepherdess to act as 
my guide to a small hostelry, some two miles distant. 
The image of that woman is still fresh in my mind. 
Some seventy summers had done their work, and left 
her, to all appearance, an awkward shrivelled up hag, 
yet she tripped over the rocks with the same facility as 
the goats which she tended, and at a speed that shamed 
my pedestrian powers. Twilight had now overtaken us, 



A STYRIAN HOSTELRY. 49 

and not all the severe exertions I had to make to keep 
up with her could efface from my mind the impression 
that I was being led by some mountain elf possessed, 
like the fairies of old, of supernatural power, into one 
of her trackless haunts. 

At last I arrived at the hostelry, and learnt that I 
had re-entered Steiermark. After a frugal supper, I was 
conducted to my sleeping apartment, in an adjoining 
outhouse, but not before I had replied to numerous 
interrogatories as to my object in traversing that se- 
cluded region. It now became clear that I was pur- 
suing what was next to an impracticability, and, to 
aggravate my position, I found I had lost Artusa's Map 
of Hungary, and had now only to trust to a pocket 
compass, itself in a damaged state. 

I rose fcarly the next morning, and, while breakfast 
was being prepared, seized the brief interval for a 
survey of the delightful retreat into which I had so 
unexpectedly stepped. What a contrast did nature offer 
in the tranquil scene before me to the tumultuous hopes 
and fears that heaved, for the moment, within my own 
breast ! The hostelry, to which a mill was attached, 
occupied a beautiful site on the impetuous Leitha, over 
which and the surrounding landscape the sun was 
strewing his orient pearl. How forcibly did the scene 
remind me of the vanity and nothingness of all human 
efforts and aspirations, when compared with the work of 
that great symbol of our Maker! 

At breakfast I met with a new inquisitor in the person 
of the village schoolmaster. My answers appeared, 
however, to satisfy him, and I was suffered to depart. 
My route lay through the same sort of mountain valley 
I had traversed the day before from Gloggnitz, with 
this addition, that groups of Styrian peasantry were 

D 



50 AN UNEXPECTED INCIDENT. 

defiling along the sinuous passes, and all on the qui vive 
at my approach. This imparted a novelty and anima- 
tion to the scene. 

After a walk of some miles through the romantic 
valley, I came upon a cotton factory, the machinery of 
which was propelled by the Leitha. I discovered, too 
late, that it belonged to the Messrs. Smith, English 
manufacturers, or I should have sought advice as to the 
proper course to pursue. In emerging from the village 
I was alarmed by the shouts of men, as if in pursuit, 
and in a moment three individuals, whom I did not 
immediately recognize, had overtaken me. My fears 
were soon quieted by the frank welcome of one of the 
party, who turned out to have been a fellow-traveller 
the day before from Vienna to Gloggnitz ; and it was 
in his character as landlord of the village inn, that he 
had come to proffer a passing hospitality. In the house 
were a number of peasantry quaffing a sourish wine, but 
the idol of all, and the source of amusement to each, 
as well by his lore as from the capers he from time to 
time cut, was the Magyar blacksmith, one of the chief 
of the village potentates. He was clearly of gipsy 
extraction ; and, though dwelling among the stranger, 
scorned to conceal the hate he cherished for the enemy 
of his father-land. Even into this secluded nook the 
notes of Anglo-Saxon sympathy had penetrated; and I 
dwell with pride on the beaming exultation with which 
this manly fellow spoke of our country. 

At length I reached a country town. It was market- 
day. How curious are the costumes that peasantry 
retain with such tenacity; and see those cadaverous- 
looking pigs, exposed for sale, how are they ever to be 
fattened? As soon as lunch was dispatched, I was 
again in motion, and entered another picturesque 



PASS THROUGH A MILITARY POST. 51 

village, rejoicing in a noble chateau, the property of 
some great proprietor ; for English horses were being 
exercised by grooms, and there was an English air 
about the mansion. How few and far between are 
country seats in these regions ! Some dozen only was 
it my lot to behold in my long pilgrimage. Onwards I 
proceeded, I was still on the borders of Styria ; for in 
every hostelry was a daub of the Ban. What cutting 
irony, Ban, to make thee galloping over the prostrate 
Magyar ! Thy speed was always reserved for the 
flight ! 

Again I come upon a town ; but how can I pass those 
sentries, that legion of soldiery? See those officers 
communing earnestly. The thing is ridiculous. I shall 
be stopped. Well, what shall be your plea ? Put on a 
bold face, you are now past the head quarters; you 
have still a long street to ascend, it is true, and see, 
there are sentries again at a closed gate higher up ; 
but stay, here is a waggon just about to pass through, 
overtake it, walk on its left, and there is still a 
chance for your escape in the dusk. It is done. 
Two miles further, a patrol, as if in pursuit. Well, 
you must run into the coppice, and hide till they pass. 
Such were alternately the reflections and resolves of 
the day. 

I now determined to avoid entering a town, unless 
compelled by some unforeseen event. The road lay 
through a wild mountain country, not without its pre- 
tensions to grandeur. Towards midnight I entered a 
field, skirted by a wood, and pitching my umbrella as a 
shelter, and making my carpet-bag a pillow, I endea- 
voured to snatch a brief repose. Before the lapse of an 
hour a heavy rain came on ; and the cold in these regions 
being almost unsupportable by night, I judged it more 



52 PERILS OF THE MARCH. 

prudent to resume the march, than remain exposed to 
the attack of the two elements. All mankind were 
asleep. Even the swine herds, leaving their grunting 
charge, had sought the shelter of the wayside inns. 
Village after village did I leave behind during that 
dreary night, my only stimulant a great purpose, and 
the desire to aid, as far as lay in my power, the efforts 
of a gallant, but oppressed people. 

The rain had reduced the road to a complete slough, 
and I had great difficulty in retaining my equilibrium 
in descending the steep hills. At four, a.m., the town 
of Eriedberg lay at my feet ; I was faint, weary, and 
dispirited. The rain seemed, if anything, to increase 
in violence. Moreover, I had no alternative. I entered 
warily, still hoping to shun observation, and passed the 
sentinel, fast aleep at his post. But there is the village 
inn, how it addresses itself to the corporeal cravings ! 
Besides there will be other sentinels posted at the other 
extremity of the town. I enter. The host is churlish, 
and it is long before I can persuade any one to obey my 
requisitions. 

After breakfast, two police officers appear. They 
scan me minutely, and pore over my passport, in vain 
seeking a solution to my mysterious appearance. Truly, 
the Austrian is not the most acute of the peoples of 
Europe ! It never occurs to them, lost in unravelling 
absurd minutia, to ask why I honour Friedberg with a 
visit, in passing between Vienna and Trieste. The 
magic name of Brodie, the seal of the Stadthaupt- 
manschaft, and my own finesse, dissipate one by one, 
all doubts and suspicions, and the passport, wrong on 
the face of it, is politely returned to me as correct. 
In the outskirts of the town I meet with a party of 
soldiers, and, a few hundred paces further, some officers. 



ENTER FEJEDBERG PINKAFELD. 53 

They stand staring at me, and talk loudly to one 
another, but I affect not to regard them. Some miles 
further, I descry a military post in the distance. I had 
better avoid it. See, the road, after passing it, throws 
off a branch to the north-east. That forest, I think, 
will offer me a parallel course. It is skirted by villages, 
but I shun them, with one or two exceptions, and hide 
in the thickets when the foresters approach. I am now 
in Hungary again; but the people are German. I 
have bidden adieu to those sylvan glades, and there is 
a large town, Pinkafeld, before me. A terrific thunder- 
storm is about to burst over my head. I am embold- 
ened by recent impunity. I reach the town just as the 
storm explodes. Its streets are converted in a moment 
into impetuous torrents. I seek cover under a shed ; it 
is shared by a hundred soldiers. I am refused shelter 
at one hotel ; I seek another, — and am admitted. The 
ciric magnates have already demanded my passport — 
how sorely they are puzzled at its contents ! See, they 
are spelling it syllable after syllable. They evidently 
imagine they can detect the arcana by the process. To 
their comprehension, it might as well have been in 
Cochin Chinese. They give it up in despair to the 
Hauptman. He is a Croat ; I know it by his savage 
leer. Well, if he can't decipher it, his awe-inspiring 
visage betokens his suspicion of its having some hidden 
import. 

Ultimately, a Jew is sent for ; he is the schoolmaster 
of the place. The company defer to his intellectual 
superiority. He, they are sure, is not the man to be 
duped. He commences by propounding some search- 
ing interrogatories, and ventures on a sly remark or two 
in reference to my pursuing so singular a route from 
Vienna to Trieste. There is no accounting for tastes. 



54 ELABORATE INQUISITORIAL. 

Soon he changes the scene to Old England. He had 
once lived at Oxford; so had I, but four short years 
ago. At what college ? Lincoln, in the Turl. Ah ! he 
knew it well; he had once got inside with his wares. 
He fancied, somehow or other, he recollected my face. 
Perhaps I remembered his. Could anything possibly 
be more conclusive ? a talisman had been at work, and, 
in a twinkling, mistrust disappeared from the counte- 
nance of the Son of Israel. Even the barometer of 
the Hauptman^s scowling physiognomy had an upward 
tendency ; for no long time had elapsed, ere he pledged 
me in a bumper of Hungarian wine. 

In taking leave, the Jew expressed a desire to see me 
before I left in the morning, with which I now regret I 
did not comply, but the fear of a second, and still more 
elaborate inquisitorial, and the dread of any unforeseen 
casualty, combined to deter me. Accordingly, quitting 
Pinkafeld early in the morning, I struck in a direct 
course for the Flatten See, on the banks of which an 
Hungarian force was alleged to be posted. The people 
in the villages, who were principally of German extrac- 
tion, appeared greatly solicitous to learn my errand ; 
but as sympathy for the Magyar cause could not be 
expected in the same degree as among the more mixed 
population in the interior, I refrained from satisfying 
their curiosity. Yet many of them assumed a sad ex- 
pression of countenance in their allusions to the catas- 
trophe impending over the country. 

In turning suddenly a corner of the road, I came quite 
unexpectedly upon an Austrian post, and before I had 
time to effect a retreat, I was greeted by a sentinel on 
the look-out, with the startling challenge, "Wass machen 
Sie?" The guard turned out in a twinkling. Every 
officer chanced to be absent from the post, or my fate 



AM SURPRISED AND ARRESTED. 55 

might have been reserved as heretofore, but the soldiers, 
in their ignorance, were naturally disposed to view the 
incident under its more serious complexion, the more 
that they were unable to decipher a syllable of my pass- 
port ; and after a long consultation, as to what was 
best to be done under the circumstances, it was finally 
resolved that I should be forwarded to the next post in 
charge of three of the men. I gathered from my guard 
that we should find a subaltern stationed there. Having 
once been stopped, however, the officer, regardless of 
the proofs which the passport afforded of my having 
passed through Friedberg and Pinkafeld unmolested, 
decided, after a conference with his subordinates, on 
sending me to his superior at the next post ; and in this 
manner I was ultimately transferred to Friedberg. The 
civil commissioner happened to be on session. I en- 
tered the bureau of the police with a cigar in my mouth, 
but removed it immediately upon coming in presence 
of the magistrate. He eyed me, however, in a manner 
so vindictive, and assumed a scowl so savage and inso- 
lent, that, on perceiving he intended to continue smoking 
himself, I instinctively resumed it, determined rather 
to commit a breach of decorum, than manifest the 
slightest symptom of trepidation. He ordered me to 
extinguish it. I replied, that I should be happy to 
comply, the instant he set me a better precedent. For 
a moment he hesitated, and then removed his pipe ; but 
while in the act of following his example, my cigar was 
dashed from between my teeth by one of the bailiffs in 
attendance. A momentary scuffle ensued between my- 
self and my assailant, but I was in an instant sur- 
rounded, while the latter retreated in the rear. 

I now underwent a most rigorous search, and my 
scanty baggage was dragged from its receptacle and 



56 A COURT MARTIAL. 

overhauled. At tlie same moment, my braces and 
cravat were duly probed, and my unfortunate brandy- 
flask Avas returned to me smashed in the inside. The 
searchers passed their hands several times up and down 
my legs. Fortunately, I had previously turned up the 
part of the gaiters overlapping the shoes, and thus re- 
moved the greatest source of peril. But too cognizant 
of their dangerous contents, I could distinctly hear the 
crackling of the silver-paper on which the letters were 
written, yet, by a miraculous interposition, their ears 
were as much at fault as their sight and sense of touch, 
and I, for the first time, escaped the terrible ordeal in 
triumph. 

At this stage of the proceedings, the colonel of the 
regiment stationed at Friedberg entered the court, and 
seated himself by the side of the local magistrate. He 
seemed disposed to adopt a summary course of proceed- 
ing, and talked of shooting me without any ceremony. 
I must do the commissioner the justice to say, that he, 
on every occasion, interposed to check the violence of 
his coadjutor. Both, however, concurred in the opinion, 
that I was neither more nor less than a Hungarian 
spy, and appealed from the passport, which declared me 
to be an English advocate, to what they were pleased to 
call my military aspect and bearing, and even to the 
dress I then wore. 

At length, a suggestion of the commissioner's, that I 
should be sent off under escort to Gratz, in order that 
the pleasure of the Imperial government might be taken 
as to my fate, prevailed ; and I was removed to the den 
in which I was destined to pass the night, and remain 
until one o'clock the next day. The place was about 
six feet square, and dismal enough to make a dog howl. 
The money I carried on my person had been seized ; 



IMPRISONMENT MARCH TO HARTBERG. 57 

no food was provided, and a dirty earthenware pot of 
water was placed at such a distance from without the 
bars of the cage that it could not be reached. 

I passed as good a night as the litter of dirty straw 
provided for me would permit ; and at one o' clock was 
summoned again to appear before the commissioner. 
I was once more searched. No inquiry was made as to 
whether I had tasted food for the last twenty-four 
hours, and, however faint and weary, I was myself too 
much absorbed, at the possible discovery of the gaiters, 
to ask for any. Intense as was the heat at midday, I 
was brought out to march at once to Hartberg, between 
a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets. 

And wxll did the soldiers fulfil their brutal mission. 
Not a drop of wine or water was I permitted to taste 
during the first stage of eight miles, and it was not 
until we had reached the next stage (the escort, it may 
be mentioned, was relieved every eight miles) that I 
was permitted a moment's refreshment. In vain I 
adduced the insufficiency of the food so dearly paid 
for ; I was forbidden any further rest, and when in a 
state of exhaustion I attempted to snatch a brief respite 
on a bank by the road-side, I was struck by the escort 
with the butt-end of their muskets, and experienced 
every kind of evasion at the next post, when I endea- 
voured to obtain the name of the principal offender. 

The third party, composed like the preceding of 
savage Croats, fitting agents of such a government, 
behaved, if possible, more brutally still, and actually 
proceeded so far as to prick me with their bayonets, for 
the purpose of expediting my movements, when I sud- 
denly started up, and pointing to my heart, intimated 
that they might run me through, but that I neithe 
could nor would then move. Seeing that I was deter- 

d 5 



58 BRUTALITY OF MY GUARD. 

mined, they desisted from their persecution, and, sitting 
down by my side, lit their pipes. It needed the soothing 
influence of the weed to tame their baffled passions, and 
I watched with some interest its slow but sure effects 
on their swarthy fiend-like countenances. 

A subsequent brutal proceeding of these men so 
exasperated me, that for an instant I canvassed in my 
mind the chances I should incur w^ere I to seize the 
bayonet of the man before me, and transfix him in my 
rear. I was saved, however, from a very dangerous, 
but I feel not an altogether impracticable attempt, by 
the approach of two officers, to whom I repeated in 
broken German the brutal treatment I had experienced. 
They addressed the men im some S clave dialect, so 
that I could not comprehend their observations ; but 
they spoke in an admonitory tone, for the remainder of 
the march was performed in peace, though in the most 
intense agony, produced by the swelling of the instep 
and the appearance of a sore. This becoming aggra- 
vated by the friction of the leather and the intense 
heat, resolved itself into a frightful ulcer by the time I 
reached Hartberg, and rendered me for a long time 
unable to put on a shoe. 

At Hartberg I was left for some hours in the barrack- 
yard, among the soldiers, without refreshment, until a 
senior officer, less devoid of humanity than the others, 
happening to be passing, and seeing that I was half 
insensible, ordered my removal to a bed. 

Soon after the commissioner arrived. I must ac- 
knowledge that while he performed his duty to the 
letter, he displayed considerable feeling under the cir- 
cumstances. Our conversation was in Latin, for he 
could not speak French; but as neither of us could 
express ourselves sufficiently fluently in a lingua mortua 



CRITICAL POSITION— MODE OF ESCAPE. 59 

at such a moment of excitement, we found it necessary 
to betake ourselves to the rector of the place, who 
spoke French. To him I declared that I never had the 
slightest intention of joining the Hungarian army in a 
military capacity, but that I had merely wished to be 
in as close a proximity as possible to the scene of war, 
in order the better to carry on the correspondence with 
which I was entrusted. My statement appeared in 
some degree satisfactory, and the commissioner resolved 
that I should be permitted to take up my quarters at 
an hotel for the night ; but he intimated that he should 
deem it his duty to keep a light burning in the room, 
and to place a sentinel by my bed side. As a pre- 
liminary, I was taken to the bureau to be once more 
searched. Nothing was discovered ; but still the danger 
was not a whit the less imminent. 

After supper I was shewn into my apartment, and 
now I foresaw that the real crisis of peril was at hand. 
I had hitherto been couched on straw, and had there- 
fore remained in my clothes ; now, however, it became 
necessary to disrobe. Fortunately, the commissioner 
was not present while I was getting into bed, and that 
little accident, together with the circumstance of the 
sentinel's being aware of my having been previously 
several times searched, it was, which offered me a ray of 
hope at this forlorn moment. I resolved, therefore, to 
seize every opportunity that an imperturbable coolness 
could alone furnish me with for carrying out my designs. 
Taking off the dreaded gaiters with the same sangfroid 
with which I had taken off my coat, I contrived, by a 
little sleight of hand, in getting into bed, to whip them 
under it. Five minutes afterwards the commissioner 
entered the room, and enquired of the guard whether 
they had perceived anything of a suspicious tendency, 



60 REMOVAL TO GRATZ. 

and whether I had attempted concealment in any shape. 
They replied that I had divested myself of everything 
in front of them without hesitation, and that there was 
nothing to warrant a remark. 

So the commissioner retired, first giving orders, at 
my request, that the lights should be extinguished, and 
the sentinels should remain outside. Neither of these 
instructions were, for some reason or other, obeyed ; and 
if I contrived to doze for a few minutes, the gleam of 
the pale moon beams piercing through the windows, 
and lighting up the soldiers' bayonets, effectually dissi- 
pated sleep. The soldiers, too, dozed once or twice for 
a few moments during the night, till, disturbed from 
some cause or other, they would suddenly start up, as 
if under the impression that I was making my escape. 
Then for an hour or two they would direct their glis- 
tening orbs upon the spot where I lay, as they thought 
asleep, watching my very breath. 

During one of the occasions on which I found them 
napping in this manner, I contrived to draw up the 
gaiters from their concealment under the bed, and to 
place them on the chair alongside of my other garments. 
As soon as it was light I rose, and put on every article 
of apparel in the same open manner that I had divested 
myself of it on the night previous. As soon as the 
commissioner arrived, he put the same questions as 
before to the sentinels, and they gave a similar answer. 
I now began to breathe more freely. After breakfast 
the commissioner conducted me to a landau in waiting 
at the door, and gave orders to the two Italian corporals, 
my conductors, that I should be driven to Gratz. 

At one of the places on the road at which we stopped 
to take refreshment, we encountered Hantsch, the com- 
missioner of Friedberg. I could not avoid the conclusion 



SCENERY OF THE COUNTRY. 61 

that forced itself upon me, in a review of his repulsive 
features, that I had never seen a more stolid-looking 
boor in all my experience of mankind, and that such a 
being would scarcely have been deemed eligible for a 
village schoolmaster in England. 

I can hardly now say whether it was my lot always 
to meet the Austrian character under its more revolting 
phases, or whether such are its positive and distinguish- 
ing characteristics. If the former, all I can say is, that 
in their aggregation of facts the fates were uncommonly 
unkind. Here were we, four of us, and all heavy men 
too, to accomplish a journey of forty-five miles, per- 
petually up hill and down dale, over roads not every- 
where in the best condition, with a horse that we should 
have long since consigned to the knackers; and I 
shudder in saying it, only one brief respite was given to 
the wretched beast, and then it was only to offer it 
some hay. Poor brute, how thou wert tortured and 
mangled during the live-long journey ! Truly there is 
ample scope here for a Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals. Are we to infer that the human 
animal, oppressed and emasculated under a sordid and 
heartless despotism, revenges unconsciously on the brute 
his own deprivation of established rights ? 

The country between Hartberg and Gratz is com- 
posed of a series of undulations, at times elevated into 
ranges of hills, everywhere highly picturesque, but 
devoid, as elsewhere, of the accompaniments we con- 
sider essential to the landscape. Nowhere is a chateau 
to be seen, seldom, indeed, a farm-house ; every village 
is a peasant settlement, with its attendant priests, re- 
puted to be little in advance of their parishioners in 
intelligence. As you approach Gratz, however, one of the 
most magnificent views in Europe lies at your feet. At 



62 TREATMENT AT GRATR A PROTOCOL. 

hand is the Mur, and a little south of it is the Drove, 
which Nature, in one of her capricious moods, has des- 
tined to traverse unheard-of plains, in the place of 
emptying herself into the contiguous Adriatic. 

On reaching Gratz I was again searched, with the 
same result as before ; but, owing to the absence of the 
authorities, I was left without refreshment. Next 
morning, however, the brother-in-law of the commis- 
sioner who was well acquainted with English, arrived, 
and at once interested himself in my behalf. By his 
means a protocol of my case, as it is here called, was 
drawn up and despatched to the governor of Gratz. 

The governor, in his reply, notified that it would be 
necessary for me to go up to Vienna, and if I had any 
complaints to allege of the treatment I had undergone, 
I had better make them there. I begged him, never- 
theless, to release me from arrest, and suffer me to 
remain a day or two at Gratz, from which the corre- 
spondence could be conducted equally well ; but he was 
obdurate to my appeal, and the next day I was trans- 
ferred to Vienna, apparently without an escort, but in 
point of fact under surveillance, as I was not long in 
discovering after I had entered the railway carriage. 

On arriving at Vienna, my first aim was to discover, 
whether or no I was followed; but, failing to notice 
any person, whom I had reason to suspect, in immediate 
sequence, I hastened to the house of a Magyar friend, 
in the Herrengasse, since the author of a very able 
work on the war in Hungary. To him I related my 
adventures, and requested permission to take off my 
gaiters, and deposit them there. He somewhat de- 
murred to my request, at first, on the ground of its 
peril to himself, and the probability of an officer being 
on watch outside. His lady, however, who is an 



AM TRANSFERRED TO VIENNA. 63 

Englishwoman, protested against these prudential con- 
siderations, and taking the gaiters from me, threw 
them on the floor of an ante-room, remarking that 
secret correspondence was not likely to be sought for 
there. 

I was now left at liberty to communicate * with 
Prince Schwarzenberg on the treatment I had under- 
gone, and to prefer a demand for satisfaction, which 
should embrace the removal of the Commissioner 
Hantsch, the punishment of certain of my escort for 
brutality, and a pecuniary recompense for my detention 
in prison and loss of time. 

* I shall not trouble the reader with the first letter of the 
correspondence ; for it is a mere recapitulation of facts with 
which he is already conversant. — (See Appendix). 



64 APPLICATION FOR PASSES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Application to the Austrian Commanders for Passes to their 
respective Camps. — How frustrated. — Klapka's Sortie from 
Comorn. — Military Pusillanimity. — Summons to attend at the 
Stadthauptmanschaft. — Am re-placed under Arrest. — An 
Order is read to me from Marshal Welden directing me to 
quit Vienna, and the Austrian Dominions, within twenty-four 
Hours. — Character of my Conductors. — Nature of our Conver- 
sation. — Perils environing the Austrian Monarchy. — Character 
of the Imperial Family. — My new Position, and the Train of 
.Reflection evoked by it. — Description of the Mode by which I 
eluded the Austrian Police. — British Eepresentatives at the 
Court of Vienna, Sir R. Gordon, Lord Ponsonby. — Erroneous 
Impressions formed by both the Austrian Court and People as 
to the True Principles that actuate the Nation through such 
media. — Enhancement in Price of Provisions throughout Aus- 
tria. — Description of Ober (Esterreich. — State of Agriculture. 
— My Eoute. — Arrival at Scharding. — Scene at parting with my 
Conductor.— Reception at Neuhaus.- — Social Aspect of Bava- 
ria. — Utter Uselessness of a British Ambassador at Munich. — 
Life of an Attache. — Scene between the American Minister and 
Prince Schwarzenberg. — Munich. — Road to Innspruck. — De- 
scription of that City. — Austrian Spies. — Road through the 
Passes of the Tyrol.— A Croat Officer.— The Italian Tyrol.— 
Trento. — Verona., Maestra, etc. — Italian Landlord. — Am in- 
vited by the Austrian Officers to join their Circle in the Even- 
ing. — Unpleasant Discussion and its Consequences. — Venice 
and the Bombardment. — The Venetian Deputies. — Tranquil 
Appearance of the City. — Treviso. — Review the Site of Charles 
Albert's Campaign, — Arrival at Trieste. — Am informed by the 
Vice-Consul that the Austrian Government has some Inkling 



IN WHAT MANNER FRUSTRATED. 65 

of my Designs. — Observe a Vienna Police Agent at Lloyd's. — 
Withdraw, and go on board a Steamer departing for Corfu. — 
The Austrian Lloyd's and the Economy of their Steamers. — On 
reaching Corfu receive Tidings of Georgey's Defection. — Wait 
for a Confirmation. — None arriving, cross over to Albania 
with the view of re-entering Hungary. 

Having failed, in tlie manner I have described, to enter 
Hungary by stratagem, I again resorted to the more 
legal method of securing the object I had in view, and 
addressed letters to Haynau, Paske^itch, and the Ban, 
requesting a pass to their respective camps. The denou- 
ement of my late adventures was, however, being grad- 
ually consummated, and was shortly to prevent my 
receiving a reply to these communications. In the 
interval I devoted myself earnestly to my correspond- 
ence. It was some consolation to find, that if my 
mission, in so far as concerned its higher aims, had 
eventuated in failure, it had enabled me to lay bare the 
Austrian system of finance, and to render hopeless all 
the efforts of her government to entice the small capi- 
talist of Britain, the widow and the orphan, within her 
ill-concealed meshes. 

The week was pregnant with great events. The 
exhaustion and disorganization of the Hungarian armies 
in the East were, for the moment at least, compensated 
by Klapka's gallant sortie from Comorn, which had 
struck terror and dismay into the very heart of the 
empire, and, when taken in connection with the general 
conviction which prevailed of imperial deception in 
withholding every narrative of reverses, and as pomp- 
ously parading the smallest item of success, appeared 
to the Viennese to forbode a crisis nearer home, perhaps 
the transference of the war to the neighbourhood of the 
capital. Nor were the panic-struck citizens to be all at 



66 SUMMONS FROM THE POLICE. 

once re-assured by their natural protectors. Already 
had the soldiery caught the prevailing infection, and 
two regiments ordered out to Presburg, as a reinforce- 
ment to the army of Western Hungary, had remained 
immoveable on the glacis, bewailing in tears their sad 
fate, and declaring their determination not to march 
out to be butchered like their predecessors. In vain 
did their officers seek, now by every blandishment, now 
by menaces of the severest punishment, to change their 
determination. For several hours they remained obdu- 
rate alike to appeal or argument ; but, stratagem being 
resorted to, they were at length, almost unconsciously, 
led on to share the fate of their comrades. 

One evening, towards the close of the week, at a late 
hour, I received a summons from the commissioner of 
police, requiring my attendance at the Stadthaupt- 
manschaft on the following morning. I hurried down, 
half expecting an apology for the ill usage I had lately 
experienced. In its stead an order was read to me, 
purporting to emanate from Marshal Welden, governor 
of Vienna, directing me to quit that city and the Aus- 
trian territory by extraordinary post, within twenty-fonr 
hours, and in the meanwhile to consider myself under 
arrest. I demanded an interview with Marshal Welden. 
It was refused. I demanded permission to see or com- 
municate with the British Ambassador. It was denied 
me. 

Seeing that I was powerless, and in unscrupulous 
hands, I required that I should be sent out of the 
country at their exclusive cost, to which they acceded 
after considerable demur, the only other concession 
granted being a permission to accompany the police 
officers to my hotel, to arrange for the removal of my 
effects. A chef de bureau accompanied me the first stage 



AM REPLACED UNDER ARREST. 67 

on the road, and then returned to Vienna, leaving me 
in the charge of one of his subordinates, an intelligent 
and well-behaved man, who endeavoured to anticipate 
all my wants, and to console me in my affliction with 
every kind attention. 

Previously to his departure we had interchanged 
ideas respecting the future reserved for the country. 
Beneath the thin and transparent veil of hope, which he 
affected to assume, were displayed sentiments ill at ease, 
and contradictory to his most cherished inferences. 
The man was half a patriot without knowing it, and I 
felt I was treading on delicate ground, as I heard how 
he sighed when, in allusion to the impotency of the 
country of his -birth, he confessed she could only look 
for deliverance to the barbarian of the North, 

"And yet I believe the revolution has died in the 
birth/' interjected he. 

" In that you will be found to be wrong/' replied I. 
H Such a notion coincides neither with the teaching of 
history, nor with the unity of a drama which never 
develops itself in fragments. Depend upon it, Sir, the 
revolution is a drama in five acts, replete with life and 
passion, not one of which it will be baulked of, unless, 
placing honest men at the wheel of its destiny, you rob 
it of its aliment, God's dispensation to revenge political 
crime. In that case your own profession would cease, 
as it has in England, to be devoted immediately to the 
repression of human cravings after progress, and would 
only operate against man where he came into collision 
with society by violating the laws of its Founder." 

" And am I to understand, then, that with you poli- 
tical misdemeanours are unknown, and unvisited by the 
correction of the police? " 

" Not exactly so, but among us they are reduced to a 



68 ORDERED TO QUIT THE AUSTRIAN TERRITORY. 

compass the most narrow; and it is only where the 
party transgressing exceeds the limits of discussion, 
and the legitimate agitation of grievances, and, when he 
openly professes his design of subverting the framework 
of society, that the law steps in and disarms him. Up 
to that period he is ignored, and, depend upon it, he is 
not the gainer by the omission. 

Should he involve the country in anarchy, he is 
severely punished; for surely it is only criminal to 
transgress the law where there prevails a reciprocity of 
right. The antithesis of tyranny is rebellion, and un- 
der tyranny insurrection is a sacred and indefeasible 
right. Do not misunderstand me. I am not employ- 
ing the term in the sense in which it has been adopted 
by certain exaltes, but in the restricted meaning in 
which it was applied by our Saxon forefathers." 

" I comprehend you, sir. What a happy country 
must England be ! How I should like to visit it \" 

" I wish vou could. You would no sooner set foot 
in our metropolis, than you would learn one instructive 
lesson." 

" What is that?" 

" That while you have a garrison of 30,000 men 
employed in the defence of your walled capital, with a 
population of 400,000, we, with one more than six 
times as numerous, require scarcely 2,000 soldiery to 
protect our metropolis — the metropolis of the world, 
and the emporium of its wealth — which remains with- 
out any external defence other than that I have 
described. 

" While I am holding up to your view and contrasting 
the two pictures, in a manner, I fear you may deem 
invidious, let me somewhat qualify that which appears 
at present all couleur de rose. I should be sorry were 



A POLITICAL DISCUSSION. 69 

I to lead you to infer, that we have arrived at adminis- 
trative perfection in England. Very far from it. It is 
to our future that we look with the least apprehension. 
In the vista are seen hope commingled with faith. 

" Our experiments in testing the strength of its ma- 
terials have conduced to the discovery, that our con- 
stitution possesses an elasticity adequate to every 
emergency. Hitherto, we have been engaged in mere 
surface diggings, profitable no doubt, and yet more 
suggestive; but the ulterior development of the precious 
metal is to be arrived at only by ihe application of 
machinery to the quartz rock below. We have scarcely 
done anything towards the removal of the foul air per- 
forating every gallery, in the shape of jobs, pensions, 
sinecures, monopolies, favouritism. There is also an 
untold depth of water to be removed in the shape of 
useless offices, and antiquated abuses. 

" Some years hence we shall substitute a senate for 
that which you everywhere consider a bauble, our House 
of Lords. Previously to that we shall have purified the 
Commons; first, by extending the franchise to every 
man who can read and write, and by insisting on every 
representative's being selected from the class of bur- 
gesses, as was originally intended by the royal founder 
of that assembly. The selection of the sons and 
dependants of the aristocracy, under any pretext how- 
ever specious, is so palpable and glaring a monstrosity, 
that it is really past belief how men could have been 
found audacious enough to intertwine such a parasite 
with the fair oak of our constitution. It is no more a 
part of the fabric as originally devised, than the white- 
wash which secretes the richly wrought tracery and 
exquisitely carved oak of mediaeval art. 

"But to revert to the topic we began with. The 
police with us is the organ of the civil executive in its 



70 APPEARANCE OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 

last resort, and is not employed in insatiate inquiries 
into the thoughts, words, and incidents of daily life, or 
the altars of domestic privacy. I should be almost 
ready to revisit Vienna, for the purpose of congratulating 
you, when I learn that the Stadthauptmaunschaft limits 
its cognizance of offences to the bounds prescribed by 
reason and right/'' 

At this moment, a richly decorated carriage, drawn 
by four handsome English greys, and bearing the mother 
and brother of the Emperor, dashed rapidly past us, 
and the colloquy terminated. 

More than one opportunity had been furnished me, 
at the Bourg theatre and other places of entertainment, 
of surveying the facial lineaments of the Imperial family. 
I know not from what cause, but the Cretin-like expres- 
sion of the features of Francis and Ferdinand pervades 
also, and reigns dominant in the expression of their col- 
lateral descendants. The very portraits of the young 
Kaiser carry with them the settled melancholy, which 
he has inherited with his Spanish lineage, and though 
pains have been taken to blazon forth his latent admin- 
istrative talents and military ardour, they are neither 
justified by appearances, nor fortified by the results. 

" Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," writes our 
great British bard. Uneasy, truly, even where coexis- 
tent with constitutional right ! How appalling then 
must be the vista opening for this youthful monarch, 
were he never so bold and intelligent ! On every side 
he catches his own shadow, the representative of unjust 
and plundered prerogatives, which he is perforce com- 
pelled to retain. What conflicts in embryo, whether or 
no he relax his hold ! Of what daily and hourly arbi- 
trary acts is he the nominal perpetrator ! What an 
array of witnesses, accusers, condemners, aye, and it 
may be requiters, does he lay up in store. 



PERILS OF THE AUSTRIAN MONARCHY. 71 

Let the dykes again burst their bounds, is he to 
expect an acquittal for the violation of laws, the tam- 
pering with justice, the floggings, imprisonments worse 
than death, the merciless executions, the hundred other 
excesses committed in his name. What an accumu- 
lation of vengeance has he contracted ! Will he die 
king of Hungary, unless he be prematurely snatched 
from his career of trouble ? Dare his lithest courtiers 
flatter him so ? Bears Galicia no reminiscence of the 
murder of its nobility, encouraged and promoted by the 
minister of his predecessor ? Has Bohemia never pro- 
nounced against his sway? Are even the favoured 
Dutchies an exception to the universal rule ? Are Lom- 
bardy and Venetia happy under the tutelage of the bi- 
headed eagle ? Does Dalmatia never recall with ecstasy 
the republic crushed under Austrian talons ? Are the 
Viennese so contented under his paternal government, 
that, while they are allowed their music and scenic 
representations, they have no aspirations beyond mar- 
tial law? Is it abroad that we are to look for his 
deliverance ? May not Russia at length arrive at the 
conclusion, that it is more to her purpose to partition 
his provinces than to acquire a right to a homage and 
gratitude devoid of sincerity ? Has Prussia to add no 
new item to the score she will one day require at his 
hands? Will Turkey have cause to weep at a fate 
which his predecessors had scrupled to avert from her- 
self in the hour of her agony? Has Sardinia no heredi- 
tary aspirations to gratify at his expence ? Could not 
France acquire the principalities of his most doting 
allies by a day's hostilities ? Has the head of the Anglo- 
Saxon family no old grievances to avenge ? Was it not 
the very same state which denounced Hungarian in- 
dependence, and stigmatised her patriots as traitors, 



72 MY NEW POSITION. 

that craftily stepped forward to recognise American? 
Do not the mighty offshoots of England everywhere 
regard her with the contempt and indignation with which 
the heirs of a noble birthright are wont to approach 
the embodiment of tyranny ? However, then, the sub- 
version of the Austrian dynasty may for the moment be 
stayed, it cannot, in the nature of things, be averted. 

We found some difficulty in procuring relays of 
horses at the different stages on the route, in conse- 
quence of the number retained for the Imperial travel- 
lers. Everywhere in the towns that we passed, we 
found the military drawn up to receive them, and crowds 
of gaping rustics, attracted by the serenity of the 
weather, were expecting their appearance. At one stage 
we were in advance of them, at another they had gained 
on us, and when this was the case, we had leisure to 
amuse ourselves at the expense of the dismounted post- 
boys, who, as though discrediting the amount of the 
ample largess, seemed never to be tired in counting the 
paper treasure they had received as a gratuity for their 
accomplished service. 

The sluggish progress of the (so-called) extraordinary 
post, which maintains an average speed under five miles 
an hour, served to recall my actual position to my mind. 
My first idea had been to return into Hungary by 
Constantinople, and, in that case, to take a passage 
thither by a French steamer from Marseilles. Such 
was the resolve which I had in part communicated to 
my fellow-traveller, and such had been the first crude 
project of my own conception. Further consideration and 
a regard to the words endorsed on my passport,* sug- 
gested a course of procedure, perhaps, more perilous, but 
not altogether impracticable, as experience ultimately 
* " To return to his own country." 



THE POLICE CIRCUMVENTED. 73 

proved. It lay in throwing my companion off my trail 
by a very facile stratagem. By mystifying him as to 
my route, when I should be set at liberty ; by posting 
to Munich, before any other communication could 
supersede to thwart me ; by obtaining a new passport 
under another name, and therewith re-entering the 
Austrian territory. 

To circumvent him, in the first instance, I determined 
to leave behind me in the carriage, from which we 
should alight at a succeeding stage, two overcoats, and 
not to apprize him of the loss, until their immediate 
recovery should be unattainable. I perceived he had. 
noticed their value, and I naturally inferred that he 
would consider them in the light of a gage for my 
adopting a line of conduct in accordance with the parti- 
cular object of regaining them. 

As I surmised, so it happened.. As soon as I disco- 
vered the loss, he bade me be at ease, for he would send 
orders by the guard of the malle-poste, to have them 
forwarded to Vienna, whence they could be sent to 
Passau by steamer, and I could wait for them there. I 
affected to coincide with the arrangement; but on 
arriving in Bavaria, I posted to Passau, and gave orders 
to the agent of the Danube Steam Navigation Company 
to forward them to the American Consul at Trieste ; 
then retracing my steps to Munich, I at once procured a 
new passport, vised in the usual manner by the Austrian 
ambassador, and prepared for my departure, through the 
Tyrol and Italy, to the rendezvous agreed upon. But 
I am anticipating the course of events. 

My companion, being tolerably conversant with 
French, soon became very communicative, and disclosed 
a few particulars respecting the attaches of the British 
Embassy, and their secret correspondence with the 

E 



74 BRITISH DIPLOMACY AT VIENNA, 

Austrian police, which equally surprised and incensed 
me. I had been made aware, more by the ostentatious 
manner in which he vaunted his hateful ideas, than from 
any importance the world in general attached to them, 
that the chief party implicated was really more actively 
engaged in doing the dirty work of the vilest Austrian 
bureau, than in the more legitimate occupation for 
which he received a large yet ill-earned annual salary. 
Himself a vain, frivolous butterfly, fitter to strut down 
Pall-mall, than to serve in a profession which, if it is 
not, under the altered circumstances of our time, posi- 
tively mischievous, demands at all events the highest 
energy and intellect in all concerned in it ; the only 
claim he could prefer to the post, which he so un- 
worthily filled, was based upon his forming one of a 
family of ubiquitous, yet still increasing placemen, whose 
counder had once stood in the van of a veteran band of 
reformers, but was destined to leave behind him a son 
more of an Austrian than the Austrians themselves. 

From time immemorial the interests of the British 
nation have been woefully misrepresented at the Court 
of Vienna. Under Sir Robert Gordon was attained the 
grand climacteric of disgrace ; and since then some im- 
provement for the better was inherent in the nature of 
circumstances, unless, repudiating the principles of the 
Holy Alliance at home, we were resolved to render them 
the normal starting point for every political trucuiency 
abroad. There are persons now living in the consular 
service, who could narrate facts and incidents which 
occurred during that period that would be fit to make 
our very Saxon flesh creep with disgust and horror. 

No wonder that despotism, hearing from a distance 
of our love of freedom, but catching its echo only from 
the uncertain sound trumpeted forth by our diplomatists, 



AND ITS AMBIGUOUS CHARACTER. 75 

should come to regard our instincts as only separated in 
name from its own,, and point with pride to the unde- 
viating adhesion of England, "its ancient ally/' to 
every repressive measure it judged it necessary to 
enforce. 

I bear willing testimony to the improved tone assumed 
by our diplomacy under the direction of Lord Ponsonby. 
His lordship was far too high-minded and dignified to 
serve in the leading strings of men like Metternich and 
Schwarzenberg. He never forgot that he represented 
the first country in the world; and his chivalrous 
attitude at the least invasion of her rights, proceed from 
whatever quarter it might, was in the highest degree 
commendable. 

Unfortunately, although an adherent in theory to the 
school of Fox, he appeared, in practice, scarcely pre- 
pared to cope with the conclusions, which, valuable as 
they might be from their inevitable tendency, our more 
advanced progress has already rendered so many obsolete 
traditions. 

To some such cause as this, perhaps, was to be attri- 
buted the ill-concealed antagonism of our veteran diplo- 
matist to the momentous struggle of right against might. 
That struggle was now being waged by a country to 
which Western Europe had once Looked with confidence 
as its bulwark against the Osmanli, which she now 
yearned towards with a deeper sympathy as her van- 
guard in the East against a still more formidable enemy 
— despotism. Or shall that result be assigned to that 
tendency to conflict between the liberalism of our 
youthful principles and the more prudential and sedative 
considerations suggested by advancing years ? 

Could you have recalled forty years of his lordship's 
career, you might have found him secretly rejoiced, 



76 GREAT EUROPEAN 

nay, willing, as far as lie legitimately could, to espouse 
the cause of an oppressed nation — oppressed, because 
exhausted by her countless efforts in defence of im- 
perilled civilisation, she had insensibly fallen into the 
arms of a wary, insidious, and strength-reserving 
neighbour. 

Like all the public men of his generation, he had 
been, if not a party to, at least an interested witness 
of that partition of Europe, yclept a settlement, in 
which the meaner animals of prey, the wolf, the jackall, 
the bear, and the bi-headed eagle, a monster in orni- 
thology, a monster by her instincts, had appropriated 
nationalities, as though they were the figures of a 
chessboard; while the lion, forgetting in somnolency 
his nature, had been mesmerized into accepting much 
of the odium of the wrong, and for his share, the mere 
offal of that feast of plunder* 

But a truce to reflection ; let us revert to our main 
purpose. Deeply regretting that we could not extend 
a hand to the succour of a gallant and chivalrous 
people — a people, too, whose virtues are engraven so 
deeply on our hearts, whether it be their free and un- 
grudging hospitality, their kindred traditions and 
customs, the love they bear us, and their time- 
honoured reminiscences, I yet found a modicum of 
consolation in the reflection that, if the strict observ- 
ance of international faith forbade the intervention of 
force, our country had supported their cause, with one 
or two infamous exceptions, through her press, by the 
arms of some of her children, by public and earnest 
demonstrations, by her moral influence throughout the 
glebe, by the kindly, though negative, sympathy of her 
statesmen, by the hearth we have offered their exiles, 
and that, by a felicitous conjuncture of events, public 



ENHANCEMENT OF PRICES. 77 

opinion at home had not been smothered by our having 
been wedded with absolutism abroad. Happily, our ten- 
dencies are not soon likely to be Aberdeenwards again. 
They are every day advancing quietly, but surely, beyond 
ithe present more liberal depositaries of power, and 
ripening towards a development full of hope and 
vigour. That little focus of intellectual sovereignty, 
cherished within the bosom of every free nation, has, 
within the last twenty years, periodically emitted its 
vitality over the whole political atmosphere, melting 
before its genial sway many a harsh inequality of sur- 
face, and probing beneficially many an obscure corner, 
where abuse and its satellites had long reigned tri- 
umphant. Day by day it is receiving accretions, and 
expanding its circumference, until, like a summer's sun, 
it shall feel its power, and, shedding its warmth over 
our whole Saxon land, make its vibrations felt wherever 
her children canopy. 

We found the enhancement of the price of all the 
necessaries of life, caused by the insatiate demands for the 
supply of three vast armies, together with the debase- 
ment of the paper currency, to extend to the utmost 
limits of Upper Austria, in a proportion scarcely less 
perceptible than in the provinces nearer the theatre of 
operations; so much so, indeed, that my companion 
assured me he had paid a florin and a half for a break- 
fast, consisting of eggs, bread, and coffee, for which he 
would have been charged less than a third of the sum 
two years ago. 

The same exorbitant charges prevailed at all the 
roadside inns, although my fellow-traveller was well 
known in these parts, having, as an itinerant dealer 
attended every market in the province previous to his 
present appointment. Upper Austria is a fertile, and, 



78 AGRICULTURE IN UPPER AUSTRIA. 

for a proprietary without capital, a well-cultivated 
country, abounding in romantic scenery, for tlie most 
part comprised within the Bohemian mountains to the 
north, and the Noric and Solker Alps to the south ♦ 
From its proximity to the capital, and the facilities for 
transport afforded by the Danube, together with the 
natural drainage secured to it by elevation of surface, 
it is, for its size, the wealthiest, best favoured, and most 
productive portion of the empire. 

Yet, for all these advantages, I cannot say I, any- 
where, saw the result that such a combination of 
favourable circumstances might have been supposed to 
engender. Nowhere were to be seen any great skill, 
ingenuity, or inordinate activity, in extracting the 
utmost from its fertile soil. Perhaps it is to be ascribed 
to the tenure of service, perhaps also to the large pro- 
portion of ecclesiastical property, which, here, as else- 
where, fastens itself, like a leprosy, on agricultural 
progress. On the southern bank of the Danube, there 
are several religious establishments ; and at one of the 
towns, Erlauf, a prince prelate, with an almost fabulous 
revenue, maintains a palace, out of all consistency with 
apostolical traditions. 

A glorious summer's sun had lit up the Noric Alps 
with such resplendent prismatic colouring, bringing out 
into sublime relief every peak and cone, that it needed 
not the unceasing attentions of my companion to invite 
my admiration. My spirits were rising, like the ther- 
mometer, and I had soon regained the joyous tempera- 
ment, which recent events had somewhat contributed to 
unsettle. Here, as in France and Bavaria, every field 
had, for its demarcation, a line of apple, pear, and plum 
trees, and, by the way, the practice of planting these 
is one which our agriculturists might imitate with 



VIOLATION OF WELDERS EDICT. 79 

advantage. The last fruits of autumn were now being 
carried home. 

Although Upper Austria had been permitted to retain 
its national guard, after the disbandment of that force 
in the other provinces, I could not fail to see that my 
chaperon was uneasy on my account, during our brief 
stoppages in the towns, -where the reminiscences of the 
revolution had been in some degree retained. In point 
of fact, the police had scarcely yet regained its former 
prestige, and the ludicrous escapade to which it had 
been forced so recently to submit, during its period of 
impotence, were yet fresh in men's minds. 

The towns of St. Polten, Erlauf, Walsee, Enns, etc., 
through which we passed, have nothing beyond their 
situation to recommend them, unless it be the structure 
of the houses, the scale of which, as compared with 
similar dwellings in our own country, is always a subject 
of astonishment to an Englishman. 

After leaving Linz, the road skirted for some miles, 
the southern bank of the Danube presenting to our 
view some of the sublime scenery by which I had been 
so vividly impressed on a former occasion. 

Although we had travelled incessantly for twenty- 
four hours, we were far removed from our journey's 
end ; and I could not help smiling at the expression of 
mortification which was becoming more and more appa- 
rent in the features of my conductor, at the bare idea 
that the edict of so mighty a hero as Welden, had been 
practically violated. To add to the offence, and render 
it almost inexpiable, we did not reach S char ding until 
two o'clock in the morning : we were, accordingly, too 
late to cross the Inn; it was necessary, therefore, to 
make the best of it, and suffer me to pollute the 
Austrian soil for another seven or eight hours. 



80 ENTER THE BAVARIAN TERRITORY. 

After breakfast I was taken, "by my conductor, over 
the bridge, which crosses the river between Scharding 
and Nenhaus, when I was once more free, and on 
Bavarian territory. The honest German shed tears on 
leaving me, and insisted on saluting me in the true 
German fashion — a practice, which, though sufficiently 
repugnant to our sense of propriety, I was, in this 
instance, fain to comply with. As he had already 
communicated his errand to some Bavarian officers on 
the bridge, I became all at once an object of attraction, 
and was carried by a party of them to visit the conscript 
fathers of the place. 

In the evening, I was invited to an at fresco enter- 
tainment in an open space in front of the hotel, at 
which my health was drunk with the greatest enthu- 
siasm. Whatever sympathy, therefore, may be enter- 
tained by the Bavarian Government for its neighbour 
and ally, it is clear it is not universally shared by the 
people. 

The paper money I had brought with me from 
Austria, I found to be unne^otiable here on anv terms. 
Gold, and a silver somewhat alloyed, are the only cur- 
rency; and during my two trips through Bavaria, I 
nowhere recollect having met with their paper subsitute. 

The political and social aspect of Bavaria has re- 
mained, perhaps, unchanged during the past three 
hundred years, in the face of every mutation on the part 
of surrounding states ; and it presents, in consequence, 
many phases worthy of the attention of the philosopher. 
Situated nearly in the heart of Germany, and circum- 
scribed within narrow limits by kindred states; pos- 
sessing a water-carriage, limited to boats of the lightest 
draught ; enjoying little or no foreign commerce ; 
boasting of little or no mineral wealth, no great agri- 



SOCIAL ASPECT OF THAT COUNTRY. 81 

cultural staples, other than those that compose the 
primordial elements of subsistence; unrenowned for 
manufacturing skill; she has, nevertheless, to exhibit a 
people, in the mass, as well fed, clothed, and housed as 
many of the greater states ; and want is scarcely to be 
found within her borders. 

A number of co-operating causes will furnish a satis- 
factory solution. Independently of her expenditure on 
works of art, her requirements are of the simplest 
kind. She has few artificial wants; and the greater 
portion of the articles of luxury she imports are for the 
supply of the foreigners who frequent her Art-Capital. 
Property is equally divided; there are few, if any, 
great proprietors ; the soil admits almost everywhere of 
culture. Land is held by an easy tenure. It is true 
she has no coal, but her mountain territory produces 
an ample supply of timber. Her taxation sits lightly 
on her, for her expenditure has never been sunk. It 
has given employment to her most ingenious children, 
and served to attract strangers to her capital. Her 
monarchs have never launched into extravagance on 
their own account. Patriarchal in character, their rule 
has always had the welfare of the subject for its object. 
Her population, scarcely anywhere excessive, has found 
an easy outlet for its relief on a contiguous and less 
crowded area, or gradually emigrated to the New "World. 
No state in Europe has less of political short-comings 
to answer for ; and none is entitled to look with more 
of confidence to the future. 

Priestcraft and superstition flourish luxuriantly, it is 
true, and to a certain degree darken the picture ; but 
the evil is counterpoised by the indifferentism of the 
mass, and there is a prevailing kindliness of spirit, which 
goes far to check an otherwise unmixed evil. 

e 5 



82 BRITISH AND AMERICAN EMBASSIES. 

At Munich I again met with my friend Mr. Stiles, 
the American ambassador, accredited to the Court of 
Vienna. Rather in the way of routine, than for any 
reason more cogent, he was accustomed to pay an 
annual visit to Stuttgard, Munich, and perhaps the 
minor capitals of Southern Germany ; yet I believe I 
am within bounds when I state, that the total cost of 
the two American embassies in Germany, along with 
their dependent consulates, falls short of, rather than 
exceeds, the sum expended over our embassy at Munich 
alone. I am afraid any language I could possibly em- 
ploy, to convey the annoyance which I experienced at 
witnessing this unseemly outlay of ours over diplomacy 
in petty German states, would, by its feebleness, fall 
short of its purpose. 

Yet where is the man bold enough to maintain that 
America suffers in her commerce, or in the protection 
she extends to her people from her economy ? Well 
may our practice startle the world by its inconsistency 
with our principles, and call forth the derision of our 
American kinsmen, the critics to whom we have the 
strongest reason to defer. " If you are as free as you 
allege/' say they, "what in the name of reason induces 
you to consign your purse into the hands of the men 
who seem bent on nothing more pertinent than to ease 
it of its contents. What grounds have you, any more 
than ourselves, for retaining an ambassador at Munich ? 
We travel in Bavaria as much as you, yet so far from 
requiring an ambassador to guarantee our passports, we 
maintain not a consul in our pay. An alien in religion 
and policy, the Court of Bavaria can never bestow an 
atom of its sympathy on your projects or advice; and 
for the country, wedded to a Zollverein that levies a 
prohibitive toll on your wares, it absorbs scarcely a half 



LIFE OF AN ATTACHE. 83 

of the manufactures consumed by our state of Rhode 
Island." 

So long as England, or, to speak more to the point, 
her aristocratic rulers, for have we not been enlightened 
on the subject by one of themselves? determines to 
preserve these loop-holes for pauper patricians of 
their order, so long will Russia, Prussia, France, 
and Austria retain theirs ; not by the way of vieing 
with British extravagance, for that is unique by 
its ' lofty isolation, but by counteracting her political 
suggestions and manoeuvres through a similar agency. 
Do we not morally and politically, as well as geographi- 
cally, turn our backs upon Europe, and scan trade and 
converse with either hemisphere ; while they, parts and 
parcels of a time-worn Continent, are, in a manner, 
limited to one uniform system, regulated by the same 
impulses and principles of action, and associated by the 
same interests of commerce, polity, and tradition ? 

" Besides, you little reflect, tax-payers of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, how you punish these diplomatic 
exiles, and what wearisome lives you lead them, simply 
from giving them nothing to employ their time. Picture 
a young attache at Munich dreaming pleasantly in bed 
at half-past twelve, peremptory orders having been 
given that he is not to be disturbed till one, p.m. 
Imagine him dressed, and partaking of a hearty break- 
fast at two. At three looking in for ten minutes into 
the Chancellery, and, finding all a dull vacuity there, 
strolling to the Cartoon Cloister, in the Ludwigstrasse ; 
and with a cigar in his mouth, and the latest French 
novel in his hand, sauntering on the grass, occasionally 
diverting himself by a flirtation with a pretty girl, just 
to convince the world of his diplomatic impulse, if it 
would only give him an outlet for its development. 



84 A CURIOUS INTERVIEW ON A CURIOUS TOPIC. 

Then picture him returning to dress for dinner, which 
he enjoys with all the keener relish, in his consciousness 
of having so fairly earned it ; follow him to his coffee 
and billiards, and you will form a tolerably accurate 
notion of his diurnal career. 

Not thus is it with our kinsmen. At whatever hour 
of the night you may chance to arrive in a place, you 
are entitled to arouse their representative, whether 
ambassador or consul, and, if you desire to proceed, to 
procure his endorsement to your passport. But just step 
to his British co-ordinate, and if you don't happen to 
be an aristocrat, and circumstances should have delayed 
you but five minutes beyond the appointed hour, not all 
the supplications on earth will obtain for you the object 
of your wishes. 

A curious interview, on a curious topic, had taken 
place between the American Ambassador and Prince 
Schwarzenberg, since I had last seen him. An American 
frigate had entered the port of A r enice, and, as was 
alleged by the Austrians, had carried provisions to the 
beleaguered city. The Prince had, in consequence, sent 
for the ambassador, and intimated his having received 
despatches to that effect. The Ambassador, ignorant of 
the grounds for the accusation, demanded whether he 
had been informed officially of this breach of neutrality. 

" No/' replied the Prince ; " but the quarter from 
whence it emanates is perfectly to be relied on ; and it is 
my duty to apprize you that the Austrian flotilla has 
received orders to sink, from henceforth, any American 
vessel thus contravening the law of nations/' 

u As the accusation is brought before me in so loose 
and unprecedented a manner, Prince, it is equally my 
duty not to entertain it ; but I may remark thus far, 
that even if the American frigate, to which you refer, 



UPPER BAVARIA RH.ETIAN ALPS. 85 

had been inculpated causelessly, and had actually been 
sunk, in the manner you have threatened, by the 
Austrian flotilla, my opinion is, that the American 
people, overcome by the transcendant novelty of so 
astonishing a feat as the destruction of an American 
frigate by the combined navy of Austria, would have 
been disposed to condone the first offence. I feel further 
at liberty to assure you, that you may sink an American 
frigate whenever you may catch her/' 

A word more on either side would have been mis- 
placed, and thus the scene terminated. 

The city of Munich has been so often described by 
the traveller, and its sights and peculiarities are so 
amply set forth in Murray, that it would be a task of 
supererogation to attempt to add anything of novelty 
to the subject. 

The first portion of the road between the city and 
Innspruck offers nothing deserving of notice, and it is 
only as you approach Upper Bavaria and its picturesque 
lakes, that you discover you have entered a new region. 
The margin of the lake is set off by more than one 
handsome town, the resort of persons in quest of health 
or pleasure ; and to the east and west roll down in 
common from the Khsetian Alps, the Iser, and the Inn. 

At every step you are gaining a loftier altitude, and 
it is not long before you find yourself in the bosom of 
an Alpine region. Already the Swiss-like cottages, 
with their wide- spreading eaves and balconies, arrest 
your attention, and gushing rivulets, crossed by rustic 
bridges, call up the association of highland scenery. A 
shelf, projecting from the eastern steep of the mountain 
valley, leads you by the side of terrible abysses, through 
a vast forest, until you emerge by the Porta Claudia 
into the valley of the Rhaetian Alps. 



88 NEW GROUNDS FOR, APPREHENSION. 

And there a scene flashes upon your dazzled vision, 
such as poet or painter can never adequately describe^ 
for you are in fairy land. Two thousand feet below, 
laving on either side the bases of mountains awful in 
their grandeur, glides the silvery Inn, fresh from her 
native Grisons, and occupying a bed nearly as expansive 
as that you have seen her filling of yore in the plains. 
Below, in the distance, glitter the spires of Innspruck, 
and nearer you are other towns or villages, sending up 
their curling smoke in white wreaths, to kiss the deep 
blue heavens. 

Previously to my entering the Porta Claudia, a signi- 
ficant incident occurred to impress me with the necessity 
of caution in the new character in which I was re- 
embarking on Austrian soil. At the frontier our pass- 
ports had been demanded, and all, with the exception 
of my own, had been returned to the owners. It was 
further notified to me that I could not be permitted to 
remain a day at any place, on the route to Trieste. I 
was, nevertheless, perfectly aware that no positive con- 
cert or co-operation existed between the police of the 
several provinces, and that, from the tardy system of 
communication prevailing, no despatch from Vienna 
could possibly have arrived at Innspruck to anticipate 
me ; nay more, that I had pFobably arrived at Innspruck 
as soon as my conductor had reached Vienna. 

A suspicion of every English and American traveller 
was natural, under the excitement the Hungarian cause 
had evoked in both countries, and no sooner had I 
descended from the diligence, than I found myself 
followed to the hotel, and from the hotel to the cafes, 
and from the cafes in my stroll about the town and its 
environs. All my persecutors professed liberal opinions, 
and affected the greatest anxiety to discover the probable 



INNSPRUCK AND THE TYROL. 87 

denouement to ensue from this novel complication ; but I 
professed an ignorance the most consummate of the 
matter to which they referred, and reminded them that 
it was not my habit to dilate upon topics of a tendency 
so dangerous to persons in my situation. 

Innspruck contains many handsome streets, adorned 
by numerous hotels and cafes, a royal palace of which 
the unfortunate Ex-Emperor Ferdinand was then an 
inmate, a splendid arch erected to Maria Theresa, two 
or three noble churches, and other public buildings. 
But whatever art might accomplish in the way of mag- 
nificence, it could never outvie the transcendent gran- 
deur with which nature has invested this favoured 
region. 

No sooner had we emerged from Innspruck and her 
suburbs, than we commenced the ascent of the Rhse- 
tian Alps by a pass so extremely tortuous that, after 
we had accomplished a stage of five or six miles from 
the city, the distance, in a direct line, scarcely exceeded 
two. At each curve of the road we commenced a view 
over some new point of the compass the eye had not 
hitherto fathomed, and of which Innspruck itself 
figured prominently as the centre. Altogether this 
great work is a noble and enduring monument of 
human skill and perseverance ; and, although it cannot 
justly be compared with the gigantic passes which the 
genius of Napier opened among the mountains of 
Cephalonia, with scarcely a fifth of the resourees at his 
command, in men, money, and materials, it is highly 
creditable to the engineer who achieved it. 

Having, in my wanderings through Styria, traced a 
precise similarity between the scenery of that country 
and the Tyrol, it will be needless to enlarge upon the 
topic. In the industry of the respective peoples there 



88 CROAT OFFICER EMPLOYED AS A SPY. 

is, however, a very palpable dissimilarity. The Styrian 
may excel in the chase, but the Celt of the Tyrol, for- 
swearing hereditary tradition, has carried his patient 
industry to the summits of the highest mountains, and 
turned to account every hill-side where a vine can find 
soil enough to sprout. 

We passed two or three straggling manufacturing 
towns in the evening, the machinery of the factories 
being propelled by an affluent of the Inn, but the 
selection of sites in such a locality one can scarcely 
avoid deprecating from its wilful violation of good 
taste. 

At all the stages of the journey I found myself the 
object of particular attention to a young Croat officer, 
who, with the most deferential air, persisted in forcing 
me to precede him both in getting in and out of the 
diligence. I had observed him scanning me very sig- 
nificantly in company with one of the police, previous 
to our departure from Innspruck, and I gathered from 
his remarks to some brother officers, on the road, that 
he had orders to keep an eye on me. I affected, how- 
ever, to be quite overcome with his politeness, and to 
attribute it all to his high breeding. I acted my part 
sufficiently well to disarm his suspicions, for at Verona 
he left us, and I was not made aware of the presence of 
another detective until I arrived in Trieste. 

If possible the scenery increased in beauty, or rather 
gained in beauty what it had lost in grandeur, as 
we entered the Italian Tyrol, which commences some 
distance to the south of Botzen. At Brixen the vine 
seemed to be largely cultivated ; but at Botzen it formed, 
with maize, the staple production of the soil; and we 
enjoyed ourselves, at the latter place, to our heart's 
content with the first gatherings of the vineyard. The 



PECULIARITIES OF THE ITALIAN TYROL. 89 

town of Botzen, imposing enough when beheld from a 
distance, disappoints one on a nearer approach; the 
streets are mean, narrow, dirty, and antiquated, and we 
were not sorry when the time arrived for leaving it 
behind. 

No sooner has the traveller fairly set foot within the 
Italian Tyrol, than he discovers he is on the verge of a 
new region, of old the garden of Europe. Not alone 
are the people of both sexes remarkable for beauty of 
figure and person ; but there is a life, grace, and anima- 
tion pervading them, the absence of which is very per- 
ceptible in the Germans as a nation. Whether from 
the fertility of the soil, or the hereditary skill of the 
cultivator, the country wears the appearance of a gigan- 
tic garden, teeming with every species of produce that 
can minister to the wants of man. 

The complexion of the poptilation has in like manner, 
too, varied in hue. A few minutes ago, and every one 
we met was as fair and ruddy as ourselves, now they 
are of a rich dark olive, and some of them are as dark 
as Hindoos ; darker, indeed, than you will find in the 
southernmost latitude of Italy. We are still environed 
by mountains at Trento, our next halting place, but we 
are subject to the soft, soothing influence of a southern 
clime, for Africa is wafting us her rarified breath, while 
an Italian sun is shedding his often fierce, but now 
genial heat, over us. 

No sooner had the diligence fairly stopped in the 
market-place at Trento, than eager crowds had rushed 
into the post-office, in breathless haste, to claim the 
letters and newspapers we had been instrumental in 
bringing them. The channel through which they flowed 
was known to be poisoned at its source. The journalist 
could scarcely recognize his original productions, so 



90 ITALIAN HOPES TRENTO. 

numberless were the interpolations, so slashed or molli- 
fied had become his antitheses, so harmless his most 
telling points ; yet the disability under which the recip- 
ients laboured appeared only to whet their avidity for 
the meagre residuum. 

In her simplicity, Italy believed that the voice of a 
nation like ours, so seldom accustomed to be raised in 
denunciation in vain, foreboded something beyond a 
mere protest against the cruelty and iniquity of her 
rulers, and looked forward to the advent of a new era 
in which the Anglo-Saxon, long in the van of liberty 
himself, should become the arbiter of Europe, and not 
only teach the nations how to live, but vindicate, by 
the ultima ratio of arms, the claims of a people to 
freedom, who had thrice illuminated, by their genius, a 
continent sunk in barbarism and ignorance. 

The vicinity of Trento is more remarkable than the 
city itself: the street architecture of the towns of 
Northern Italy is more picturesque than imposing. 
Too little attention is paid to order and cleanliness. 
Nevertheless, Trento is not without its fine churches 
and public buildings. As we travelled by night, I had 
no means of judging of the country between Trento 
and Verona ; but from the little I could see, I should 
venture to pronounce a resemblance between it and 
that we had passed the day before. 

I was not a little diverted at an hotel, in which we 
supped, at one of the towns on the road, by the 
facility of manner, and the' spirit of good fellowship 
subsisting between the officers in the Austrian service. 
No sooner did my Croat friend find himself seated by 
a party of his comrades, than, without any ceremony 
of introduction, or the use of any of the preliminaries, 
which we deem the necessary precursors of companion- 



VERONA AND ITS FORTRESS. 91 

ship, he jumped at once in medias res, and became as 
familiar, and as much at home in a minute, as an 
Englishman would have been in a month. 

We entered Verona at daybreak, and a time best 
fitted to comprehend its impregnable military position, 
as the key of Northern Italy. The streets were at 
that early hour crowded with people, employed in 
marketing for the day ; but, at least half of the popu- 
lation was composed of invalid soldiers, victims of the 
fell miasma reeking, in summer, from the lagoons of 
Venice. Verona itself was a huge hospital. Two- 
thirds of the garrison were composed of convalescents. 
Week by week, had the beleaguered queen of the 
Adriatic hurled back to their northern stronghold some 
hundreds of her invaders, the prey of a malady to 
which a long inurement had rendered her children 
scathless. Already 20,000 men had become as many 
corpses ; while an equal number were either moribund, 
or so unstrung, as to be disabled for future service. 

The road between the two cities was choked, now 
with the trains of used-up warriors, now with those 
of their successors, destined soon to fill a part in a 
similar sacrifice. Italy looked on without sorrow at the 
hecatomb of the Tedeschi. At Verona, the cafes were 
thronged with eager crowds, anxious to gain the latest 
tidings. As a stranger, I was naturally interrogated 
whenever an opportunity offered. Among the most 
ardent liberals were the advocates, with whom the 
smallest towns of Italy are surfeited, all staunch to 
their country's cause, and the most eloquent sustainers 
of the fire now kindling within her breast. 

Verona offers but slight inducements for a long 
sojourn to the fastidious traveller; its hotels are squalid 
and miserable; its houses, though picturesque, are 



92 MAESTRA AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 

small and comfortless, and, to the stranger, the charges 
are high. Its Piazza, the Adige, and the fortress, 
together with the noble prospect you command from it, 
may be pronounced the chief features of attraction. 

In the afternoon we left by the railway for Maestra^ 
passing through Vicenza, a smaller counterpart of 
Verona, and Padua, still famous for its University, and 
a cafe, reputed to be the finest in Europe. 

The mode in which matters were conducted on the 
railway, forcibly recalled to my mind the resemblance 
with our English system, as much by the style in which 
the stations were constructed, as by the speed at which 
we moved from place to place. 

With all their love for poetry and art, the Italians 
are eminently a practical people; and, even in their 
domestic arrangements, a striking similarity is trace- ' 
able with our English customs, if we but allow a margin 
for local peculiarities. If I were called upon to name 
one in particular, I should adduce the partiality mani- 
fested for a distinct abode, however humble, which is 
common to both. With regard to the prospect which 
offers itself of a remunerative return for the capital 
invested on the line, there can exist little or no ground 
for apprehension, since it traverses a rich and perfectly 
level country, abounding in every product of the tem- 
perate zone. 

On arriving at the station at Maestra, I entered a 
coach, in company with two Austrian officers, bound, 
like myself, for the hotel. Before I could possibly 
alight from the vehicle, or divine the object of his rapid 
utterance, the Italian landlord had presented himself 
at the door of the carriage, and peremptorily demanded 
the production of my passport. Pending the brief 
delay that ensued in searching for that document, he 



UNPLEASANT DISCUSSION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 93 

became so vociferous, that I really began to suspect he 
had caught an inkling of my mission, until my fears 
were relieved by the officers interposing to check his 
ferocious volubility. I was admitted. At first he de- 
manded the most exorbitant terms for the meagre 
accommodation he had at his disposal; but, as soon as 
he perceived that a party of the officers present had 
approached and engaged me in conversation, he rightly 
conceived that they might also apprize me of the proper 
scale of charges, and sneaking up, he whispered in my 
ear, that he would charge me in the same proportion as 
the others. It had never fallen to my lot to meet with 
a more odious sycophant, or one more justly an object 
of aversion to natives and foreigners alike. 

After supper I was invited by some members of the 
.party to accompany them to an adjoining cafe, at 
which I should be likely to meet with an Austrian 
naval officer, who was conversant with English. I 
accepted the proposal, and was kindly received by the 
company present. The officer referred to was profuse 
in his professions of civility, and, in answer to my in- 
quiry, whether it would be possible to gain access to 
Malghera ? promised to introduce me to Gortshakowski, 
on the morrow, and obtain permission to show me over 
that celebrated fortress. 

Singularly enough, his polite intentions were soon 
destined to be frustrated, by the tone he proceeded to 
give to the conversation. Whatever prestige might once 
have been attached to the Austrian army, the world 
had, of late, become pretty w^ell agreed in assigning 
it, if not the last, a very inferior rank among the 
forces of the other leading powers. Galled at an 
inferiority that had become but too palpable, our naval 
friend was anxious to regain for it by argument what it 



94 OUR ENGLISH ARMY AND ITS CALUMNIATORS, 

had lost in reputation. The subject was one which a 
due regard to decorum and courtesy forbade me to 
originate ; and bound me ; as far as lay within my power, 
to avoid. My hesitation, however, only contributed to 
render my opponent more vehement and opinionated. 

"As for your navy," began my interlocutor, "it 
must be allowed to rank first in the world; but as for 
your army, by what great achievement has it ever 
rendered itself famous ? And what is it at this moment 
but a mere police?" 

" You have embarked on a topic," replied I, " that 
an Englishman would wish to avoid, more especially on 
such a theatre. Convinced of the fallacy of your last 
observation, I shall, nevertheless, attempt to refute it. 
Our army is a mere police, it is true, numerically, and 
as compared with your own ; for our people will not 
have it otherwise. In every other European state, the 
voice of the people is as nothing in the balance, and 
they are compelled to pay for their own coercion. You 
will, perhaps, admit that we have it in our power to 
maintain as great an army as any other European state. 
At present, our army, according to the greatest living 
authority, performs double the duty accomplished by 
any other. But, in ignoring the services of the army of 
England, you are ignoring the history of England. Not 
to go back to the days of Crecy and Agincourt, when 
the fusion of races was as yet scarcely consummated, let 
us descend to a more recent period, and what shall we 
find ? An English army, under the Duke of Marlbo- 
rough, invariably defeating one French army after 
another, although those armies were commanded by 
generals of the most distinguished talent and enterprise, 
and burning to display their zeal in the service of a king 
who had devoted himself heart and soul to military 



VENICE AND ITS BOMBARDMENT. 95 

glory. Again, you will find an English army under 
Wellington, although possessed of a vastly dispropor- 
tionate strength, similarly triumphing over every Freneh 
army it encountered, commanded as they were, in every 
instance, by men of the highest capacity, and thrice 
led by a man of the loftiest genius and enterprise. 

" Only the other day did we not overcome the large 
army of Mahomet Ali, almost without striking a blow, 
by uniting a handful of our marines with a small Turkish 
force ? Speak not, therefore, with disparagement of the 
English army ; for, on nine occasions out of ten, it has 
overcome every enemy to which it has been opposed ; 
and it has not been from cowardice or irresolution on 
the part of the troops, but from the want of skill and 
energy on the part of their commanders, if it has ever 
met with a reverse. It is generally conceded that the 
French are the most military nation in Europe ; if, then, 
an army can be found which shall have invariably 
worsted, and often at fearful odds, another so selected, 
it is but a fair and reasonable inference, that such an 
army is superior for its size to all others." 

The laugh was now turned against my friend, and, 
much to his chagrin, he found he had been defeated, by 
common consent, on his own ground. I need hardly 
add, that the Austrian naval officer forgot to keep his 
appointment on the morrow. 

By night, as well as by day, the boom of the artillery 
ceased not to reverberate from across the channel, and, 
together with the reveille kept up outside my apartment, 
rendered it difficult for me to compose myself to slumber. 
In the morning I hastened to the signal-tower, from 
which a magnificent view of the city of Venice, as well 
as of Malghera and the Austrian force, could be obtained. 
That very morning, Venice had sent over her deputies 



96 ITS ASPECT FROM THE TOWER AT MAESTRA. 

to treat for peace ; tlie Austrians had, therefore, craftily 
disposed an Hungarian grenadier regiment and other 
picked troops near the Hotel de Ville, with the view of 
impressing them with a notion of their strength. I 
afterwards met the deputies on the stairs. They looked 
like men who, though embarked on a forlorn mission, 
did not yet despair of their country. 

Venice herself sat, as of yore, embosomed tranquilly 
on the waters, heeding not her enemy, whose shot 
seldom or never reached her, but the famine which had 
already stricken many of her brave defenders. They 
may have plucked the crown from off her brow, thought 
I ; but in her attitude she is still a queen. Immediately 
in front of the Austrian fire, a large edifice was being 
raised, as if in mocking irony; and, on her western 
borders, reposed her trusty little fleet, which had, on 
several occasions, dealt disgrace on her lubberly rivals. 
The position of the two flotillas, as seen from the tower 
evoked more than one reminiscence of the times, faj 
remote, when, in the more southerly waters of Hadria^ 
the Athenian and Corinthian gallies were drawn up in 
similar martial array. 

In the afternoon, I posted to Treviso, passing on the 
way some twenty or thirty handsome villas, which now 
appeared to be deserted by the proprietors, and filled 
with Croats, who, with the innate vandalism of the 
S clave character, had destroyed or defaced every statue, 
column, or ornament on the grounds. Treviso is a large, 
but unimportant town, with few spacious houses, but 
several fine churches and public buildings. If I had 
required to be informed to how low a depth the Austrians 
descend in the system of espionage, I could have scarcely 
failed to become initiated into the mystery here. There 
was not a family in the town but was tracked, even into 



ARRIVAL IN TRIESTE. 97 

the innermost concerns of its domestic economy; and, 
on more than one occasion, a low-lived private enemy 
had employed the authorities, as a means of glutting a 
long- cherished animosity. 

At Treviso I passed the night ; and in the morning 
left by the malle-poste for Udina and Trieste. Outside 
the town we passed over the Piave, skirting the foot of 
the Tridentine Alps, the summits of which were covered 
with snow thus early in August. Along the road, as 
far as Udina, we encountered files of artillery waggons, 
laden with heavy ordnance ; and on either side the ruins 
of villas and churches, indiscriminately sacked during 
the war with Sardinia, reminded us of last year's 
campaign. At the Tagliamento, the farthest point 
gained by Charles Albert to the eastward, we beheld 
the field of battle, and the ground occupied by the 
Sardinian line. 

Udina is a very pretty, bustling town, with several 
piazzas and other fine edifices. Some miles beyond the 
town, we left behind the fertile plains of Venetia, for 
the arid, lugubrious country encircling the gulf of 
Trieste, which, up to this day, presents many phenomena 
as yet unfathomed by the geologist. The lofty mountain- 
pass from which the traveller issues, by a gentle descent, 
to the fair city of Trieste, affords, at every turn of the 
road, a noble view of the modern emporium of Austrian 
commerce, at first exhibiting it as a mere speck, in 
comparison with the vast expanse of encircling sea and 
mountain, and then gradually bringing it out in all 
its fair proportions to the familiarised eye. 

No sooner had I descended from the diligence, than 
I betook myself to the British Consulate to ascertain 
my true position. The Consul informed me, that a 
telegraphic dispatch had been received by the local 



98 

authorities the day before my arrival, directing them 
to apprise him, that, although I had professedly taken 
the road to Marseilles, with the view of reaching Con- 
stantinople by sea, it was just possible I might attempt 
to reach the same point by way of Trieste, and, in that 
event, to request him not to facilitate iny departure by 
furnishing me with a vise to my passport. He, never- 
theless, assured me that he should pay no attention to 
so unusual a demand, but would advise me to leave 
Trieste by the first opportunity. 

Soon afterwards, meeting an acquaintance in the vici- 
nity, I was introduced by him into the reading-room at 
Lloyd's, and, while engaged in conning the latest English 
news, was aroused by his apprizing me that a police officer 
from Vienna was then in the room. I turned quietly 
round, and recognised in the person indicated, a man, 
with whose features I had become familiar at the Stadt- 
hauptmanschaft. Taking the arm of my friend, we 
quietly retreated unobserved, and, entering the bureau 
of the Steam Company, procured the requisite ticket, 
and, returning to my hotel, I embarked the same after- 
noon for Corfu. 

The economy of a Lloyd's steamer of the first class, 
is, on many grounds, worthy of notice, if not of imita- 
tation. Our vessel, the Europa, was fitted up with 
small cabins for two passengers, serving rather to 
remind one of a floating hotel, than of a passage-ship. 
The fare was moderate ; the provisions good ; and the 
service irreproachable. 

Regarding it, however, in the light of a commercial 
speculation, there is every reason to believe that it has 
not proved so profitable as has been represented, 
although the annual balance-sheet is made to exhibit a 
fair annual dividend. At the outset, like all Austrian 



REPORT OF GORGEY^S DEFECTION. 99 

undertakings, it was a Government concern. Metter- 
nieh himself appeared as a considerable proprietor, and 
every means were taken to bolster it up by annual 
grants. Nominally, it has ceased to pertain to the 
Government : but there cannot be a doubt that it 
receives an annual donation in addition to its patent 
of monopoly. 

Besides a singular specimen of Yankee character, a 
man withal of high descent, as he took care to inform 
us, we numbered among the party on board several 
Greeks, and an Italian Operatic Company, on their way 
to fulfil an engagement at Corfu. 

Little occurred, however, to vary the daily routine, 
until we arrived at the foot of the Acroceraunian range, 
along which, by 'the aid of our telescopes, we could 
descry the rude villages perched, for security, on the 
topmast crags, and around them the lurid flames of the 
charcoal furnaces flickering ever and anon as they were 
replenished, from the brushwood piled up in the vicinity. 
An Anglo -Ionian of our party, whom I had apprized 
of my intention to traverse this country in a few 
days, became quite nervous at the bare idea, and assured 
me that, in case I ventured to travel in the manner I 
had indicated, I should not penetrate ten miles into 
the interior, before I should find myself left without 
an atom of property. 

We arrived at Corfu at mid-day ; and on landing, I 
found that some credence was attached to the report of 
Gorgey's traitorous surrender, tidings of which had 
reached Trieste before our departure. As such a 
catastrophe would materially affect my position in re- 
entering Hungary, it was necessary to ponder well 
before I committed myself to so hazardous and labo- 
rious an enterprize, as the making my way some five 



100 SURRENDER OF VENICE. 

or six hundred miles through savage, inhospitable, and, 
in a manner, untrodden regions. I determined, there- 
fore, to remain a few days at Corfu, until a confirmation 
or contradiction of the rumour should have arrived. 

It is not my intention, on this occasion, to enter into 
a description of that island, or any of the Ionian group ; 
their history, together with that of Malta, Gibraltar, and 
Heligoland, will appear complete in the fourth volume 
of "■ England's Colonial Empire/' now in preparation : 
suffice it to say, that no reliable information having 
reached Corfu in the interval, and Gorgey and his 
army having often been annihilated already by the 
Austrian bulletins, I obtained the requisite Ionian 
passport, vised by the Turkish Consul, together with 
letters to the Pashas on my route, and to the Consuls 
at Syada and Janina, from the Ionian Government; 
and, purchasing a Greek capote of prodigious strength 
and warmth, took my passage, by an Ionian coaster, 
to Syada on the main. 

On our way we passed under the lee of the Pluton, 
a French Government steamer, lying off the Lord High 
Commissioner's palace, with Manin and Pepe, etc., on 
board, and, raising three heartfelt cheers for the brave 
defenders of the last bulwark of Italian independence, 
proceeded cheerily before the wind to our destination. 
Alas ! since my departure, Venice had fallen, not by the 
arms of the besieger, but through the famine and pestilence 
that stalked among her palaces ; in vain had she tasted 
for a year in agony the sweets of liberty, a relentless 
fate had already dashed down the cup, and, again 
manacled, she lay prostrate under the hoof of her 
tyrants. 



101 



CHAPTER V. ■ 

Land at Syada iu Albania. — British Vice-Consul. — Proceed to 
Philatris. — Economy .of an Albanian Household. — Hospitality 
of the Primate of Philatris. — Sketches of Albanian Scenery. — 
The Greek Church in Albania. — Route to Janina. — Description 
of the Town and its Vicinity. — The Pindus Range. — Scene at 
Triakhana. — Turkish Commissioner of Justice. — District of 
Grebna. — Enter Boetolia (the Ancient Macedonia). — Plain of 
Monastir. — Quarrel with the Guide. — How finally settled. — 
Description of Monasteria. — The Pasha. — Intelligence of 
Gorgey's Defection confirmed. —Resolve to proceed to Viddin 
in Bulgaria, where Kossuth and the Exiles had sought Refuge. - 
Perlipe. — Kuprilik. — The Balkhan Range. — Kumanowa. — 
Vraniya. — Proceed to Lescovitza in a Bullock Dray Adven- 
tures on the Road. — Lescovitza. — A Magyar Doctor. — Depar- 
ture for Nissa. — Heavy Rains causing the Rivers to swell. — 
Nissa and its Roman Castle. — The Greek Doctor. — Accompany 
the Turkish Post to the Servian Quarantine Station at Alex- 
initza. — Horrors of a Servian Quarantine. — Signs of Progress 
in Servia. — The Physique and Moral Character of the People. — 
A Servian Magistrate. — The Table Land of Servia. — Excellent 
Military Road along the Frontier. — Quarrel with the Suraje. — 
Another Quarantine Station. — Treachery of Guide and Con- 
sequent Detention. — Entry into Viddin. — Am about to be 
carried before the Pasha, when I encounter General Guyon and 
Mr. Longworth— Am accompanied by the latter to the Pashalic. 
— A Khan in Viddin. — Take up my Quarters at General Guyon's. 
— Sketch of our daily Life. — The Hungarian Encampment. — 
Interviews with Kossuth. — Description of Viddin. — Conversa- 
tion with Bern in reference to the late War. — Dembinski. — 



102 A CONSULAR RESIDENCE IN ALBANIA. 

Zamoit zki. — Casimir Batihy any. — Austrian Spies. — Suspected 
Assault of Belgrade by the Austrian s. — Departure from Yiddin 
for that Place in Consequence. 



At Syada, I was met, on landing, by some Albanians 
connected with the port, who decamped on my nearer 
approach, supposing, perhaps, that I intended returning 
to Corfu, in which case I should have had to keep a 
long quarantine in the island Lazaretto by coming into 
closer contact. They were brought back, however, by the 
Consul; and one of them indited a letter to the Primate 
of Philatris, the town at which I proposed to take up 
my quarters for the night. Syada is one of the small 
shipping ports, whence cattle, charcoal, and vegetables 
are shipped to Corfu, and would become the emporium 
of British and Ionian commerce with the interior, were 
the absurd, and vexatious system of quarantine abolished. 
It possesses a rude mole, approachable by the Ionian 
coasters, and sufficient for the purposes for which it is 
employed. 

The house of the Vice-Consul initiated me at once 
into a few of the mysteries of an Albanian residence. 
Imagine the rudest peasant's hut in one of our Southern 
counties, cattle, it may be swine, tenanting the ground- 
floor, and above them a ricketty little bed-room, any- 
thing but impervious to the elements, and a sitting- 
room on a mud-floor; the only visible articles of fur- 
ture, a mat sofa, a couple of chibouques, and a board 
made to do duty for a window, and you will form a 
tolerable idea of the abode of the British representative. 
Measure not the man by his fare. A more cordial, 
obliging person it fell not to my lot to meet during my 
long pilgrimage, and I have often instinctively con- 
trasted his thoughtful, unaffected kindness with the 



SIMPLICITY OF MY GUIDE. 103 

bounce and vulgar assumption of the high-pressure 
gentry with whom I was brought into contact at other 
ports in the East. 

By the help of the Consul, a horse and guide (keraje), 
were ready at the door within half-an-hour ; and, 
bidding adieu to my hospitable entertainer, I proceeded 
on my way. 

An incident, characteristic of Albanian simplicity, 
occurred to bring us to a halt before we had advanced 
many hundred yards. All at once, I discovered the loss of 
a white hat (in its stead I had adopted a broad-brimmed 
straw, on the crown of which I had fixed a Turkish 
fez). I interrogated the guide in Greek as to what 
had become of it. Finding that he was at a loss to 
comprehend me, I pointed to my head, when he naively 
opened one of the pockets of the saddle-bag, which was 
thrown across the horse, and to my consternation, 
verified his honesty by pulling out Lincoln and Bennett's 
choicest head-gear elaborately folded into four parts, 
and no logger distinguishable from an ordinary mass of 
hose. Perceiving that my innocent squire could not 
enter into my grief, I made the best of his faux pas, 
and taking the unsightly morceau out of its repository, 
I laughed outright at my fruitless attempts to fix it on 
my head. 

During the first part of our journey we jogged along 
something like a road which ran parallel with the coast, 
and was intersected by ditches, watering as occasion 
requires, a fertile slip of territory, until we left Konispolis 
in our rear, when the country became more wild and 
mountainous, and the scenery and vegetable kingdom 
alike combined to offer variety of feature at every step. 
Already I discovered, looking only at the dangers of 
the road, that Albania was not the country for a nervous 



104 ALBANIAN SCENERY. 

person to travel in. Thanks to my huge capote andsaddle- 
bags, the seat of my Albanian saddle overtopped, rather 
than otherwise, the fore and hinder parts of the animal, 
and in ascending the first rocky track along the moun- 
tains, I found the greatest difficulty from the want of stir- 
rups in maintaining my hold, and averting a fall into the 
terrible abyss below. Three miles of such a country would 
infallibly give its coup de grace to any English quadruped; 
but the Albanian horse and mule, inured by a long 
series of hardships and dearly bought experience, dis- 
play a wonderful sagacity in threading the dangerous 
defiles, or ascending and descending the time-worn 
cavities of the rocks, so that accidents seldom occur 
in cases where the rider possesses ordinary nerve and 
skill. 

On gaining the summit, we descended into a culti- 
vated basin, surrounded on every side by mountains ; 
there we encountered three natives, tall and tolerably 
well made, but haggard and poverty-stricken notwith- 
standing, and clad in a manner which was consistent 
with the story related to me at Corfu, that to sever the 
under garments from the skin of an Albanian peasant, 
it was often necessary to have recourse to a surgical 
operation. The only protection to their feet was a 
rude sandal, such as was worn three thousand years ago 
by their forefathers, strung to the foot by strips of 
leather, yet it appeared well adapted for tripping along 
the sharp, uneven pointed rocks. 

A mile or two farther on, we overtook the venerable 
Primate of Philatris, a lively octogenarian, seated on a 
mule, and accompanied by his groom [suraje), carrying 
his chibouque. He was on his way home from Con- 
stantinople ; and on the guide's informing him that I 
was the bearer of a letter to him from the vice-Consul 
at Syada, he bade me welcome to his residence. Phi- 



PHILATRIS AND ITS PRIMATE. 105 

latris is a small Greek town, of 2000 inhabitants, 
situated on the summit of a hill from whence one may 
command a noble view of the Ionian Sea to the south- 
west, and the valley of the Calamus to the north. 
Though the external appearance of some of the houses 
is sufficiently picturesque, owing to the contrast pre- 
sented by their glaring white walls with the deep green 
of the surrounding olives, yet a peep into the interior 
will immediately banish the illusion ; for they are bare 
of furniture, and without a single attribute of comfort. 
The same observation will apply to every dwelling in 
which it was my lot to be located, with the exception 
of the British Consul's at Janina, until I arrived at 
Pesth. An apartment was speedily prepared for my 
reception in a detached part of the demesne, out of the 
reach of the harem of my host; and a bed, in the com- 
position of which rich Persian carpets and Ottoman 
cushions prominently figured, was spread on the floor. 
All sorts of viands and condiments were laid before me, 
but, being ignorant of the nature of most, I confined 
my attention to the eggs and capons fried in oil, and 
the rum imported from Corfu. The adjoining apart- 
ments, devoid of all furniture and in a ruinous state of 
repair, were occupied by the dependants, one of whom 
astonished me in the morning, by imbibing pure and 
unmixed, the greater portion of a bottle of rum. 

Early in the morning, a horse and guide were placed 
at my disposal for prosecuting my journey to Janina, 
previously to which I rode to the divan to take leave of 
my host. ' I found the chief and his subordinates 
squatted on ottomans, inhaling a perfumed tobacco, of 
which, with Turkish sweetmeats, I was invited to par- 
take. I summoned up a few words of Greek by way of 
compliment, which, notwithstanding my pronunciation, 

f 5 



106 CHARACTER OF ALBANIAN GUIDES. 

seemed to be understood, for they were responded to 
by a sharp volley of Romaic, of which I could only 
gather the purport. The greater portion of my readers 
will hardly require to be informed, that the base of the 
Romaic is the ancient Greek, the grammar of which has 
been insensibly accommodated to modern exigences, 
without the interposition of any recognised agent. Such, 
together with a somewhat different and slightly softened 
accentuation, and the substitution of a number of new 
words, with which the traveller soon becomes fami- 
liarised, are the chief and most perceptible marks of 
distinction. 

Descending the mountain which surrounds Philatris 
on the north, by a circuitous path, we entered the gorge 
of the Calamus ; the sun becoming powerful, we reclined 
under the branches of a wide-spreading plane tree, 
until becoming impatient, I gave the signal for depar- 
ture, which was obeyed with much reluctance by my 
surly and savage-looking keraje, who continued for a 
long time pointing to the sun in despair before I could 
induce him to move. 

In general, the Albanian guide, though sufficiently 
faithful and honest, has a strange tendency to invert 
the natural position he bears to his master, looking 
upon him rather as a sort of baggage, committed to his 
especial tutelage, and which he is bound to convey in 
safety to its destination, than as to a superior, to whose 
commands he is constrained to yield implicit obedience. 
Hence, he is for taking upon himself to settle when you 
shall rise and start on your journey in the 'morning, at 
which of the various khans you shall bait, and when 
you shall dine and rest in the evening; and should you 
come into collision with his rather peremptory will, you 
must expect an altercation, perhaps an appeal to force. 



THE GORGE OF THE CALAMUS. 107 

A bold prudence is the watchword the traveller should 
adopt in this emergency; and my short experience 
already shaped the course it was proper to pursue- 
Any timidity or matter-of-course compliance with his 
behests will render you his slave or his dupe, as it may 
happen : for it is the custom with each to report the 
character of his master to his successor, who frames his 
deportment accordingly. It is essential, therefore, to 
maintain a stern and determined front until you reach 
the banks of the Danube, avoiding of course, the 
opposite extreme, which, by producing a needless irri- 
tation, might equally defeat your ends. 

As we ascended, the gorge became highly picturesque ; 
through its narrow passage we could still discern the 
Ionian channel, and, below, its narrow but fertile strip of 
soil was cultivated with maize, by the side of which 
some rude water mills were propelled by the Calamus. 
For several miles, the mountain-pass wound in cork- 
screw fashion, until we reached its summit, which is 
covered, like all the range, with snow from November 
to May. Here we overtook a party bound for the same 
khan as ourselves, and proceeded in company. Along 
the whole of my route for five hundred miles, I encoun- 
tered at short intervals, innumerable caravans of pack- 
horses ; some bearing wood and charcoal to the coast ; 
others carrying their exports for shipment, or returning 
to the interior laden with English or German manufac- 
tures. At times, so narrow was the road, that it was 
with great difficulty we could find room to let them 
pass. 

As we approached the village, at which we were 
destined to halt for the night, a grateful scene, calling 
up all the reminiscences of the simplicity and tranquil 
beauty of Oriental life, presented itself unexpectedly to 



108 THE GREEK CHURCH IN ALBANIA. 

our eyes. It was a lovely fountain, shaded by a giant 
plane, at which a number of beautiful young girls, ac- 
companied by a party of swains, were drawing their 
supply of water for the morrow' s consumption of their 
families and cattle. A merry laugh was raised at our 
approach, which, with their joyous countenances, con- . 
trasted forcibly with the squalid misery that had till 
now appeared to be the type of the country. 

As we clambered up the steep, on which the village 
was situated, the dogs came pouring down upon us in a 
body, causing the valley to ring again with their peal, 
and endangering our security by their fierce attacks. 
On arriving at the khan, we found it deserted by its in- 
mates, but, stretching my capote on the rude verandah, 
I impatiently awaited their return. My position was 
not destined to afford me the repose I so eagerly desired. 
Ere ten minutes had elapsed my weight had caused the 
fragile structure to creak ominously, and, in a moment, 
it gave way in a mass, leaving me contused and sprawl- 
ing on the ground below. 

Till the return of our host, I strolled about the village 
in quest of supplies, and seeing the rude Greek church 
open, entered its humble portals. The priest was scarcely 
to be discovered from his parishioners by his attire, the 
only distinguishing feature being a rusty black cap. In 
this secluded spot, the rites of his faith appeared to be 
in like manner neglected, or so blended with local super- 
stition, as to preserve little in common with its purer 
elements. A great portion of the Albanians have long 
since embraced Islamism; and the followers of the Pro- 
phet, in the fancied security of their sway, have clogged 
the observance of Christianity with such numerous 
restrictions, that it is scarcely to be wondered at that 
it retains but little of its pristine vitality. 



THE DISARMING OF THE POPULATION. 109 

At this place the Turkish gendarme, whom the autho- 
rities at Philatris had sent thus far for my security, re- 
turned home, and henceforward, to my great satisfaction, 
we were unaccompanied by so dubious a protector. 
During the last two years the Porte had succeeded in 
effecting the disarmament of the people of Albania, and, 
the better to enforce it, and disperse the banditti fre- 
quenting the channels of communication, patrols had 
been placed at rare and insufficient intervals, only, how- 
ever, to verify the adage — Quis custodiet custodes ipsos ? 
since, from ail accounts, the population had as much to 
dread from their exactions or careless surveillance as 
from the casual depredations of robbers. 

Before the sun had risen, we were again in motion, 
groping our way at every step among the rocks, which 
scarcely afforded a trace by which to steer our course ; 
till coming to the river we forded it, the guide climbing 
on the horse behind, and we again wound along the 
banks of the sinuous stream. 

At one of the curves in the river, to avoid a slight 
detour in the road, the guide seized the horse's bridle, 
and attempted to drag her across a narrow ledge of 
rock, scarcely a foot wide, which the animal instinctively 
refused. In vain I protested; he had already moved 
her several paces, when, in a moment, as if paralysed 
by terror, she fell on the shelf below, precipitating me 
into the midst of a bush of thorns. There she lay quiet 
for a second, till I had extricated myself from my 
dangerous position. Happily the accident was attended 
with no more serious result than a rent in a portion of 
my clothes and the incision of a number of thorns 
into my hands and face, although a few feet further 
would have carried both of us into the river below. 
The guide, with a nonchalance that never deserted 



110 ANNOYANCE FROM DOGS. 

him, having dragged up the animal, held her while I 
remounted. 

We continued our course along the valley, which be- 
came more beautiful at every step, though its rich soil, 
admitting of the highest cultivation, was sadly neglected. 
Shortly afterwards, we had occasion to pass another 
narrow causeway, scarcely less dangerous than the one 
already described; and, to increase the peril, three fero- 
cious dogs darted from out the thickets, and sprung 
several times on my animal's flanks, which I, however, 
protected with a chibouque I carried in my hand. The 
whole of my route was more or less infested by these 
animals, but the dogs of Albania, from their seldom 
encountering the human species, are more particularly 
ferocious ; and such is their power of scent, that they 
can detect the approach of a Giaour or foreigner at the 
distance of a mile, when, should he be unprotected, or 
on foot, the danger can scarcely be exaggerated. 

After crossing the river, at the various windings in 
its course, we entered on a vast plain, under a shady 
tree on which we reposed for an hour or two in com- 
pany with other wayfarers. Like all barbarians, they 
were soon busily engaged in questioning my guide as to 
my calling and nationality. Whatever may be the case 
elsewhere, the few of our countrymen who have traversed 
these regions have gained for us such a reputation, and 
so wide- spread is the fame of our liberality, that the mere 
announcement of the word 6 IyyXrjcrcDs, is amply suffi- 
cient to guarantee us everywhere the best possible re- 
ception. With all their rudeness of manner, moreover, 
the English traveller will not fail to appreciate the manly 
spirit and hardihood exhibited by this people, which not 
even Turkish oppression and terrorism have succeeded 
in quenching. 



PLAIN OF JANINA. Ill 

The country we had thus far penetrated, I had in- 
spected under its least favourable aspect. The powerful 
effects of a scorching sun are not adequately appreciable 
until August and September, when the face of nature 
assumes an arid and triste appearance ; yet the valleys 
are capable of producing the most abundant crops of 
wheat and maize, and the finest melons and vegetables. 
The vine, fig, olive, and pine might be cultivated to any 
extent on the slopes, and even the mountains, in the 
hands of a nation like ours, could be made serviceable 
for the growth of timber. For all the products of the 
country a profitable market could be found in the 
Ionian group, were the odious quarantine, which acts as 
a millstone round the neck of commerce in these regions, 
abolished. 

On resuming our course, we ascended, by a narrow 
path, a beautiful steep to a straggling village, and, 
winding along a charming glen, entered by a gradual 
descent the great and wide spreading plain or basin of 
Janina. After crossing what appeared to be a series of 
fields, divided by hedgerows, we could embrace within 
our vision scarcely half of the vast expanse before us, 
owing to an eminence by which it is bisected in the 
middle. 

Narrow as it may be, scarcely exceeding three miles 
in width, the plain of Janina is capable, under a proper 
system of irrigation, of supporting the whole population 
now comprised within a radius of twenty miles from the 
city; yet a sixth part at least of its entire surface is 
consumed by the wide and devious tracks formed by the 
careless traveller. As by degrees we approached the 
city, we met numerous cavalcades of Greeks and Turks, 
returning to their respective villages, all armed, as 
usual, to the teeth. 



112 BRITISH CONSUL IN THAT CITY. 

In his glee at the near termination of our arduous 
journey, the guide gave an outlet to his feelings in a 
Romaic ditty, a horrid nasal jargon of the harshest and 
most discordant sounds, peculiar to the Romaic and 
Slavonic races, and such as the combined efforts of the 
wild Indian, and the monkey and canine tribes, might 
be supposed capable of producing. The refrain was 
caught up by the several parties of his countrymen, 
until the increasing distance deprived it of its repulsive 
twang. 

Among the objects which attracted my attention, 
were the groups stationed in the vicinity of every well 
on the plain, the exact position of which they served to 
denote, extracting their supplies of what is, in this 
country, a highly-prized beverage. From the eminence 
already adverted to as stretching across the plain, a 
splendid view of Janina and its lake, the latter reflecting 
in its crystal mirror a dozen minarets and the ancient 
castle keep, flashed before our dazzled vision. Janina 
boasts, what for a Turkish town is a remarkable pheno- 
menon, a famous Moslem sportsman ; we happened to 
meet him in the outskirts of the town, in company with 
his beaters, among the stubble. As he had no compe- 
titor, he monopolises all the sport in this vicinity. 

On my arrival before the portals of the residence of 
the British Consul, Signor Demascheno, I was, after a 
brief delay, conducted to a lodging at the house of one 
of his dependants, in the square of the Greek cemetery, 
and was soon after waited upon by M. Viana, a physician 
in practice in the city, who came to apologise for not 
being able to receive me into the Consulate, in conse- 
quence of the illness of his sister. Not to be wanting 
in the hospitality here so lavishly in vogue, he was 
accompanied by a huge negro porter, the bearer of an 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACE. 113 

ample repast of Albanian meat and fruits, and some 
bottles of Marsala wine. As dusk bad already set in, 
my bospitable entertainer was forced to beat a retreat 
for the night ; the foreigner who may then perambulate 
the streets being equally liable to danger from the 
attacks of robbers, or insult on the part of the Turkish 
gendarmerie. 

At Janina I remained for three or four days, to 
recruit myself from the fatigues inseparable from tra- 
velling in these wild countries. Famous in Turkish 
story as the stronghold of Ali Pasha, Janina has much 
improved in appearance, since the termination of his 
short-lived supremacy. Its population of thirty thousand 
souls is chiefly composed of Greeks and Turks ; and it 
possesses an extensive bazaar, several Greek churches, 
and a great number of mosques. The fortress, never at 
any time strong, is gradually crumbling to pieces under 
Turkish neglect ; and a detached fortification, which was 
raised by Ali, owing to its having been constructed of 
unhewn stone badly put together, is already a mass of 
ruin. 

Each of the great European states is represented in 
Janina by its consul or vice-consul, although Previsa, 
from its having been lately substituted as the seat of 
government, has attracted to itself the superior consular 
officers. 

The women of Janina are justly celebrated for their 
beauty. Through many an opening lattice you will catch 
the peering eye of some languishing fair one following 
you, until you pass out of sight— but beware, it is an 
invitation too fraught with peril to be accepted; the 
odds are as ten to one against your success in plucking 
the rose from its encircling bed of thorns, and detection 
is synonymous with death. 



114 MAHOMMEDAN BURYING-GROUNDS. 

Adjoining the fortress, on the eastern side, stands a 
grand Turkish barrack, capable of providing quarters 
for three or four thousand men, into which I was not 
permitted to enter, the Turks being very sensitive of 
foreign ridicule in the military department. 

One of the most picturesque features of Janina are 
the Mahommedan burying-grounds, situate in the out- 
skirts. The monuments, which differed from any I 
have seen before or since, were designed in the best 
possible taste, the style being most harmoniously adapted 
to the occasion. Judging from the size, number, and 
crowded state of the cemeteries, in all the towns of 
European and Asiatic Turkey, the traveller would 
naturally infer that the Moslem population is rapidly 
on the decrease ; and that such is no mere chimera, an 
examination into the vital statistics of the country will 
abundantly testify. 

M.Viana having placed a horse at my disposal, I 
accompanied him to the hills, from whence a command- 
ing view of the lake and town is obtainable. During 
my stay, the Consul, conscious of our English prejudices 
against an Oriental diet, insisted upon furnishing me 
with everything I required, leaving me to incur an 
obligation I shall not readily forget. As some set-off to 
his hospitality, he somewhat alarmed me by his por- 
trayal of the perils I was about to encounter. He 
alleged that, in his own brief experience, some two 
hundred and fifty travellers had fallen by the hands of 
bandits in that immediate vicinity ; and reasoned as if I 
was in the highest degree tempting Providence, by 
continuing my journey with a single and unarmed fol- 
lower. My case, however, did not admit of a remedy. 
I had quitted Austria in so unexpected a manner as to 
be unable to recruit my finances, and the escort proposed 



THE PINDUS RANGE. 115 

would have infallibly exhausted my slender means ere I 
could hope to reach my destination. 

Having procured a horse and man, therefore, I pre- 
pared to resume my route, the negro porter being sent 
forward to facilitate the embarkation of my effects on 
the boat in which I was to be ferried across the lake. I 
was not a little diverted at the authoritative tone the 
man assumed over Greek and Turk alike, who shrunk 
demurely before him in due recognition of his vast 
physical superiority, as he wielded his great baton with 
all the air of a tambour sergeant. 

When I had reached the other side of the lake, just 
opposite a Greek convent, I was compelled to wait some 
hours for my guide. The Turks, like all Orientals, have 
no appreciable notion of the value of time. Communists 
in practice, they seldom or never labour, except when 
compelled by necessity. I passed the interval in dis- 
cussing a delightful melon, purchased for five paras — 
one farthing English — and watching the stirring scene 
in progress at the ferry below. 

The great attraction of Janina is its lake, which, 
early in the morning, when its placid surface is alive 
with boats, crowded with country people, hurrying to 
and from the market, and its numerous caiques are seen 
flitting along with a party of bearded patriarchs, or the 
veiled inmates of the harem, presents itself in its most 
imposing aspect. 

As I caught sight of the wretched animal on which I 
was destined to perform a five days' journey, I fore- 
boded ill ; and, as we ascended the rocky track along 
the narrow ledge of the towering Pindus range, I 
trembled with reason; for, at every moment I looked 
forward to the being precipitated three thousand feet 
below, from the back of my sorry steed. It is under 



116 SCENE AT TRIAKHANA AT NIGHT-FALL. 

such circumstances that the stern and sublime aspects 
of mountain scenery, while they serve to appal the 
mind, elevate it nevertheless to a lofty appreciation of 
the grandeur of earth, as compared with its puny inha- 
bitants, and extract from the enthralled senses a fitting 
tribute of wonder and admiration for the great Architect 
of the Universe. 

A continuous ascent for five miles brought us to the 
summit of the range, from which we finally emerged 
into the narrow valley in which Triakhana, our resting- 
place for the night, was situate. Here, on a platform 
erected beneath the shade of a noble fig-tree, I placed 
my capote and baggage, and then assisted the khanaje 
to catch and roast a fowl, on which I supped. A long 
drought had withered the scanty mountain herbage, 
and the highland shepherds were therefore engaged in 
tearing off the leafy branches from the neighbouring 
thickets to feed their repining flocks. Provisions were, 
nevertheless, ridiculously cheap, a fowl and eggs 
being procurable for a piastre. As the evening set in, 
a herd of bullocks and a train of pack-horses bivouacked 
by torch -light around us. The yelping of their dogs, 
alarmed by the prowling jackals, the glare of the fires, 
and the savage appearance of the drivers and herdsmen 
flitting hither and thither; at one time whooping as 
none but Albanians can whoop ; at another hurrying in 
all directions after their straying cattle, combined to 
form a group of objects at once in consonance with the 
wild features of the surrounding scenery and the ram- 
bling phantasms of the wearied slumberer. 

At daybreak we continued our course, still ascending 
along a fearful rocky pass, with a valley, yielding slight 
evidence of cultivation, two thousand feet below us. 
For several miles the grandeur of the scenery partook 



MY RECEPTION BY A TURKISH OFFICIAL. 117 

of a really awful character, till we at length arrived at 
the Eastern limit of the range, and again entered a 
more habitable region. 

We had no sooner taken up our quarters at the khan 
than a well-mounted party of horsemen sped up to the 
entrance, and in a trice set the whole place on the qui 
vive. It was the Commissioner of Justice at Janina on 
his return to the city from Constantinople, accompanied 
by a French valet and suite, who immediately set to 
work to prepare his cuisine, and arrange the repast. 
The Commissioner paid me the greatest attention, and 
pressed upon me his own chibouque, and some delicious 
grapes he had brought with him ; but shook his head 
upon my guide* s informing him that we were en route 
for Grebna, and, as soon as his valet had returned, 
entered into an earnest tete a tete with him on the subject. 
Expecting, from his concerned appearance, that he had 
received orders* from the authorities at Constantinople 
to intercept travellers proceeding northwards, I felt 
somewhat alarmed, until the valet approached, and be- 
sought me to return in their company to Janina, and 
not to imperil my life by proceeding in so defenceless 
a manner along a conntry so infested by bandits as 
Grebna. I replied that I was fully aware of the danger; 
but that my mission was one of urgency, and that I must 
insist upon being allowed to proceed. I reminded him 
further that I was the bearer of a firman and letters to 
the Pashas from the Ionian government, and that the 
Commissioner wonld have to take a heavy responsibility 
upon himself if he prevented my design. Satisfied with 
protesting, the Pasha relented, and, with many expres- 
sions of good-will, left me to pursue my fool-hardy ad- 
venture. I was not a little surprised at the avowal 
made on this occasion bv his French attendant of his 



118 TURKISH ESSAYS AT ROAD-MAKING. 

preference for an Oriental life, since it is a career for 
which his countrymen, generally, are not peculiarly 
framed. 

Setting off in company with a large and merry party 
of packhorsemen, we pursued our course through the 
much-dreaded territory of Grebna. The vine is largely 
cultivated in this district ; and the grape, being now in 
high perfection, we indulged ourselves to our heart's 
content, as we rode along the far-spreading vineyards. 
The wine of Albania is, notwithstanding, the most 
nauseous and unpalatable of liquids, owing to its dilu- 
tion with resin instead of spirits. 

In fording the rocky bed of the ancient Haliacmon, 
one of the party got caught in a hole of the river, and 
the animal slipping with him, he was precipitated into 
the water, much to the amusement of his companions. 
My guide had neglected to warn me of the danger ; and 
it was with difficulty that I avoided a similar catastrophe. 
At length, however, we cleared the bank in safety, and 
entered the plain of Grebna, from whence we obtained 
a noble view of the lofty range we had just left in our 
rear. The Albanians, in their consciousness of the 
difficulties presented by the road, and their belief that 
none can ride well but themselves, appeared surprised 
that I contrived to keep in advance of the party, and 
alluded to the matter to the guide; but, when he 
remarked that there were few things in which an 
Englishman did not excel, the sentiment seemed so 
natural, that their astonishment was at once exchanged 
for respect. I had often occasion to reflect, that, if the 
Turks would really confide the task of pioneering and 
forming tracks to the goats, and abstain from carrying 
out their own ideas of what a road should be, the 
passage of travellers would be rather facilitated than 



THE PLAIN OF GREBNA. 119 

otherwise. They had evidently been at some pains in 
forming a rude trottoii* of rock; but the rains had 
washed away the soil connecting them ; and they were, 
in consequence, a dangerous impediment to transit. 

The plain of Grebna, now occupied by scanty flocks 
of sheep and goats, is capable, under a proper system 
of irrigation, of producing in profusion all the various 
products I have before adverted to. As we entered the 
town when it was becoming dusk, we were unable to 
procure anything but eggs and a melon; having par- 
taken of which, with the coffee Ave carried along with 
us, we retired to rest, sleeping on the straw by the side 
of our horses. Grebna rejoices in a mosque, and the 
houses on the eminence above the town are extremely 
picturesque; but the bazaar is mean and poverty- 
stricken. 

Before day -break we were again in motion. Outside 
the town, we met the patrol returning from their nightly 
vigil. Our party, which comprised our fellow-travellers 
of the day before, defiled singly along the road, and 
shouted as loudly as possible, in order to impress any 
vagrant band of robbers with our strength. The 
country now assumed an undulatory and very fertile 
appearance, being divided into fields of Indian corn, etc., 
and its resources seemed to increase as we proceeded. 
Within a mile, I had observed limestone, marble, brick- 
clay, and gravel, cropping out from the soil. Macedo- 
nian agriculture, like that of the East in general, has 
retained all its primitive simplicity ; not an implement 
is now used which was not in vogue four thousand 
years since. So also with the pastoral life. The shep- 
herd warbles, as of yore, the soft, soothing music of his 
pipe to his bleating charge, and lives and loves, and 
wanes and dies, unconscious of the giddy whirl that 



120 RELICS OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE. 

agitates the world without. Fresh from the busy, 
bustling west, the traveller drinks in with rapture the 
simple, untutored lay, and revels in the beauteous 
reminiscences of the patriarchal age, as his tranquil- 
lised soul descends for the time to the level of 
primordial simplicity. 

Descending a steep hill, we struck again on the banks 
of the river, until we reached a rude Turkish bridge, 
and alighted at a khan in the vicinity. The proprietor 
being -unwilling to kill a fowl for our repast, we pro- 
ceeded on our way. For a short space, we traversed a 
rocky slip of country ; and, alighting at a picturesque 
khan, succeeded in obtaining that which we now began 
to require, a substantial meal of bread, fowl, eggs, and 
gTapes ; for all of which the charge did not exceed three- 
pence. Shortly after we resumed our course the party 
separated, and Ave entered a vast plain. 

The keraje, a good-humoured, but obstinate Turk, 
had previously displayed a great predilection for stop- 
ping at every khan on the road, and became quite 
wroth, now that I refused to comply with his whims. A 
mile farther, he again renewed his entreaties on meeting 
with some friends; but seeing that I was determined to 
proceed, he followed in great dudgeon till he arrived at 
the next village, where he met with another friend, at 
whose house, as dusk was coming on, we put up for 
the night. Before being admitted into the compound 
or farm-yard, several preliminaries had to be settled, 
owing to the absence of the proprietor, and the timidity 
of his spouse, and I fully expected we should have had 
to bivouac outside ; but at length the gates were opened, 
and, to my surprise, a rich Persian carpet and cushions 
were already laid for our reception on the verandah by 
the good wife, who prepared eggs and coffee in a trice, 



AND ARTLESS CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 121 

and brought us, what in these countries is highly prized, 
a basin of delicious milk. It was a touching spectacle 
to witness the reception which awaited my guide, who 
was a native of the district, on our host's return home. 
So warm and hospitable a welcome, and such fraternal 
kindness are known only in the bright East, where 
poetry and pathos commingle undisturbed by changes 
of dynasty and the overthrow of races, and are left to 
bear fruit with a happy spontaneity that our cold nature 
would nip in the very bud. As the shades of evening 
gathered round us, a neighbour or two dropped in to 
listen to their artless conversation and kind inquiries 
after each other's welfare. It was a source of real grati- 
fication to one accustomed to the conventionalisms of 
our complex system to hear the reminiscences of " auld 
lang syne" so heartily evoked, and to find that the future, 
elsewhere looked forward to with mingled hope and 
fear, was regarded by these simple denizens as the rivet 
with which to draw still closer the enduring ties of 
friendship. 

Rising in the morning with the lark, we resumed our 
course. All my arguments were unavailing to persuade 
our hospitable entertainer to accept any recompense ; 
and the guide whispered me not to press it. 

The plain narrowed as we advanced. Here and there* 
were scattered giant planes or the still ampler fig-tree ; 
under their shade were situate the wells, to which the 
shepherds resorted from time to time to water their 
flocks. Passing down a rocky winding glen, we again 
emerged on a vast, well-cultivated and thickly-peopled 
plain. Our proximity to the villages was made suffi- 
ciently palpable by the stench emitted from the offal 
and skeletons of animals strewed around to fester and 
putrify. At a khan in one of them we remainel to 

G 



122 FRACAS WITH SOME GREEKS OF THE POLICE. 

lunch, and pushing on rapidly through another, which 
contained the largest and most pretending Greek church 
I had thus far seen in Macedonia, we presently recom- 
menced our ascent, and soon caught a glimpse of the 
beautiful lake of Castoria, and the magnificent mountain 
range trending northwards from the gulf of Salonica. 

We were now in the heart of, what the modern 
Greeks call, Boetolia. 

After proceeding by a long causeway over another 
lake, Ave entered a village at which the heraje was 
anxious to take up his quarters for the night ; but, as I 
was, on the other hand, desirous of accomplishing the 
journey in four instead of the usual five days, I rode 
on, regardless of his pretexts for delay, until arming at 
an isolated hut at the extremity of the plain, I was 
challenged by a party of Greeks. 

Concluding that they were persons anxious to satisfy 
their ciuiosity at my expense, I rode on, without so 
much as noticing them ; upon which they all rushed out 
in an instant, and menaced me with their matchlocks, 
while the heraje, coming up at the same moment, 
seized the horse, and led it back to the khan. I imme- 
diately exhibited my firman, and began to threaten 
them, in my turn, with a representation to the Pasha, 
when their superior stepped out, and politely advised 
me to return to the khan. " Under other circum- 
stances," I remarked, " I might have been induced 
to follow your advice ; but, as the guide, by the con- 
nivance of your people, has carried back my horse, it 
is my fixed intention to proceed, if needs be, alone, 
when the sole responsibility of what may afterwards 
occur will rest on your own head." I had walked on 
a mile alone, knowing that the guide was fain to follow, 
when he overtook me at a sharp trot, and I took occa- 



PLAIN OF MONASTIR. 123 

sion to threaten liim with the most severe punishment, 
in case he again delayed my progress. 

After ascending another hill, we entered on the vast 
plain of Monastir, stretching fifty miles from north to 
south, and from seven to eight in breadth. The moun- 
tains on either side, although but slightly elevated, 
appeared extremely picturesque as they exhibited their 
fantastic shapes in the full relief afforded by a setting 
sun. The country, everywhere rich and fertile, lacked 
not the supplies of water, indispensable to maintain 
it so, its resources were, therefore, duly turned to 
account. 

The keraje continued extremely sulky. It is a fail- 
ing common to all barbarians, to entertain a great 
aversion to being overtaken in travelling by the dark. 
Their experience of robbers, and the countless dangers 
of the road, to a certain extent, palliate their cowardice. 
On this occasion, as if to justify his excessive caution, 
our progress became considerably impeded by the 
mirage, as the shades of evening veiled the surrounding 
scenery, which rendered it difficult to distinguish objects 
at the distance of a yard before us. At length the horse, 
slipping over a stone in the bed of a rivulet, threw me 
over his head into the stream ; but I re-mounted with- 
out having sustained the slightest injury. 

From time to time we encountered patrols of horse 
scouring the plain, or a party of Turks returning 
homewards, and bearing along with them a perfect 
itinerant armoury. After fording the Kutchuk Carasou 
(the ancient Erigon), a deep and rapid stream, we 
entered a village, just as the khan was about to close 
for the night, and could not therefore procure anything 
to allay our hunger. On starting, in the morning, we 
were accompanied, a portion of the way, by a party of 



124 INSUBORDINATE BEHAVIOUR OF THE GUIDE, 

Greeks, who appeared very apprehensive of an attack 
from the robbers, by which this district is infested. 

No sooner had we entered the first village, than the 
keraje resorted to his old manoeuvres, and fell into a 
violent passion on hearing the phlegmatic response I 
yielded to his appeals. Again he attempted to seize 
the bridle, and force me to dismount, whereupon I inti- 
mated that a second offence would assuredly lead to my 
inflicting upon him a severe punishment. As he was 
now beginning to misinterpret my forbearance for 
timidity, I prepared to dismount, for the purpose of 
showing him I was in earnest : upon which, raising a large 
and heavy whip, which he carried in his hand, he 
struck me two tremendous blows on the head, before I 
could close with him. This, for the moment, completely 
stunned me; but, on recovering, I rushed upon him, 
and felling him with a single blow, inflicted a justly- 
merited castigation. In vain he implored assistance 
from his countrymen. They, too, were overawed ; and 
he was fain to appeal to my compassion. Soon after, 
we encountered a troop of Turkish cavalry, and I 
looked for a detention, and possibly insult, in my turn ; 
but the minarets of Monasteria loomed in the distance, 
and the guide reserved his vengeance, until we ap- 
proached the city, when he drew out his knife as an 
earnest of what I had to expect. 

On entering the town we passed by the side of an 
ancient Greek tower, and defiling along a narrow street, 
alighted at a filthy khan, where the keraje punctiliously 
locked up my baggage, giving me the key of the apart- 
ment. I paid him his wages, minus the compliment 
usually given where the party has conducted himself pro- 
perly. Within ten minutes he returned with a gendarme, 
and a warrant from the police for my apprehension. 



HIS PUNISHMENT AND ITS RESULTS. 125 

A crowd of Turks also was soon collected round tlie 
khan, who threatened me with the full measure of their 
vengeance, in case I failed to render their compatriot 
satisfaction. I was not to be overawed by their empty- 
menaces ; but calmly awaited the issue of an appeal to 
the law. On coming into the presence of the magis- 
trates, the man preferred his complaint, to which, as 
they were ignorant of the Romaic, I could only reply 
by a pantomime descriptive of his delinquences, and 
the display of my firman. At length it struck me, that 
if I exhibited my letter to the Pasha, the matter might 
probably be referred to him; and the event corre- 
sponded with my expectations. 

On reaching the Court of the Pashalic, the com- 
plaint was again preferred, and the witnesses brought 
forward to prove the assault. I explained in my turn 
my own version of the story ; but the Secretary insisted, 
that the complainant being a poverato and I a rich 
Inglese, it was expedient that I should satisfy his 
demands. I replied, through the interpreter, that the 
immutable laws of justice hinged not on questions of 
expediency; that the fact of the man's being poor 
furnished an ample reason for his conducting himself 
with civility, but a very insufficient one for misbe- 
haviour — that he could not but allege that he had 
received three several warnings of the course I should 
adopt, in case he persisted in his misconduct — that my 
determination was now formed and that I would not 
bestow a sum, intended as a reward for good behaviour, 
on one who had shewn himself so unworthy of it ; but 
that if they chose to seize the money, they were at 
liberty to act as they thought proper. For some time 
he pressed the appeal ad misericordiam, and proceeded 
to insinuate the application of force, till at length I 



126 A TURKISH COURT AND A SAMPLE OF ITS JUSTICE. 

repeated tliat I must adhere to my determination, 
but would modify it so far as to hand over to him, 
under protest, the sum in dispute, if he chose to take 
such a responsibility upon himself, provided he would 
pledge his word that it should be divided among the 
poor of the city. Perceiving that I was resolute, he 
ordered the man to be kicked out of the place. 

Such is a fair specimen of the working of Turkish 
justice. In nine cases out of ten, the greatest par- 
tiality will be exhibited by the authorities in favor of 
their own people when opposed to a stranger ; for they 
are conscious that it may be done with impunity, and 
the decision is fraught with advantage to themselves ; 
whereas in a case litigated between the rich and poor 
of their own countrymen, a bribe will generally deter- 
mine it in favor of the former. 

Thus released from apprehension on the score of my 
guide, I was finally ushered by the secretary and inter- 
preter into the divan, and introduced to the Pasha and 
the members of the Council of Government. Coffee 
and chibouques being brought in, a conversation 
ensued on the late contretemps and other topics. The 
predecessor of the present Pasha had just been trans- 
lated to Damascus. He was conversant with the 
English language, and was reputed to be a worthy and 
able man. Not so his successor. All the old and almost 
obsolete means of exaction, which had till recently 
been discountenanced, were again enforced to enable him 
to amass a sufficient fortune to retire in his declining 
years, and indulge in the soft luxury of a palace at 
Stamboul. From these motives he had even for- 
sworn the rites of hospitality, and I was but too happy 
to accept an invitation to the house of the Polish 
interpreter. 



THE GREEKS OF MONASTERIA. 127 

Next day a comfortable bed, and board in the 
English style, were provided me by the kindness of Dr. 
Castellan, Surgeon- General of Koumelia, in the best 
honse in the place. This spacious residence had been 
constructed after the European fashion by a deceased 
pasha, who, like many other people, had ruined himself 
by dabbling in bricks and mortar. It was now, there- 
fore, unoccupied and for sale. The Pasha would not 
permit it to be opened as an hotel except under the con- 
dition of an ample gratuity for himself; and none could 
be found to undertake the management on such terms 
in a place so seldom frequented by Europeans. 

At the house of Dr. Castellan, I met a Greek priest 
of Salonica, attached to the Romish Church, and under 
French protection. From his appearance and deport- 
ment I deduced a rather unfavourable impression of 
his character. He was a sly designing man, who, while 
he visited Monasteria at intervals to comfort the Church 
dispersed in the locality, generally contrived to return 
home laden with substantial proofs of the hospitality of 
his disciples. 

The Greeks of Monasteria are sunk in the deepest 
ignorance and superstition, circumstances which paral- 
yse alike the progress of agriculture, manufactures, and 
commerce. Every third or fourth day in the week is 
devoted to the fete of some rogue, who, by an unusual 
development of knavery or fanaticism, has contrived to 
get himself canonized ; and thus the labour of a third 
of the year is sacrificed at the shrine of a semi-pagan 
worship. 

As a specimen of the prevailing ignorance, I was 
asked by one of the most intelligent of the race if I 
was not milord. He seemed quite startled when I 
assured him that the lords of England were a mere 



128 INSPECTION OF THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

unit in comparison with the other classes of the com- 
munity; but when I further assured him that the 
middle class, to which I myself pertained, was the most 
powerful of all, since it, nominally at least, held in its 
hands the reins of government, however duped and 
betrayed it might virtually be, his countenance assumed 
the air of incredulity which was but natural, judging 
from his own experience. 

On one of the fetes to which I have just alluded, the 
harem of the Pasha passed in procession through the 
streets of the town on its way to take the country air. 
I counted twenty -eight carriages. 

The Polish interpreter, of whom I have before spoken, 
contracts for the supply of the uniforms of the army in 
this district* Such is his poverty, however, that he is 
obliged to have recourse to the Jews, who absorb a 
large share of his profits for advances, or he could not 
complete his orders. 

He was so obliging as to offer to take me over the 
military college, and the other public institutions. In 
so far as its internal economy was concerned, the ar- 
rangements appeared admirably contrived to ensure 
cleanliness, order, and discipline ; points of chief import 
in Turkish eyes ; but, regarded as a medium of instilling 
a chivalrous bearing and soldier-like instincts into the 
young cadets, it was a decided failure. Yet the aged 
principal devoted his whole soul to the task, and looked 
upon his young charge with all the affection of a 
parent ; still the energy, skill and vitality, essential to 
the success of such an institution were all wanting. 

It was, nevertheless, an amusing spectacle to see the 
cadets called in, one after another, to be measured for 
their new uniforms. Not one of them corresponded 
with our notions of the bearing of a soldier; some were 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. 129 

interesting youths of a slender frame, possessed of a 
pensive turn of expression; others gaunt, lanky lads, 
whom the weight of a sword was of itself sufficient to 
oppress, and deprive of motion. The military college, 
like the town, is an institution of recent origin. The 
other public buildings are of large and ample dimen- 
sions, for the most part situated on a promenade in the 
outskirts : they present rather an imposing appearance, 
and fairly earn for the place its rank as the principal 
city of Boetolia. 

The bazaar of Monasteria, equally spacious and intri- 
cate, is well supplied with English, German, and native 
manufactures; but the streets comprise all the features of 
squalor and meanness, characteristic of a Turkish settle- 
ment. The mosques, with one exception, are small ; in 
no other cities but Stamboul and Edreneh (Adrianople), 
are the noble creations of a Mahmoud or Achmet 
now to be discovered. Not so the houses of the Pasha 
and the officers of government, which line the banks of 
the torrent that rushes down from the mountain above. 
They are equally noble, picturesque, and capacious, and 
would not disgrace Stamboul itself. Yet the bureau or 
divan, to which I was summoned, wears all the look of 
a stable deserted by its owner ; such is the rapacity and 
dishonesty of the men bound to keep it in repair. 

A considerable number of Greeks and Italians are 
employed in the medical and other subordinate posts in 
Boetolia ; but the chief duties of the government devolve 
on the three Pashas, and all posts of importance that 
can be filled by Turks are strictly confined to their 
charge. 

At Monasteria, I received the confirmation of Gorgey^s 
reported defection. My intention, on arriving at Corfu, 
had been to re-enter Hungary at Orsova, and from 

g 2 * 



130 CONFIRMATION OF GORGEY^S DEFECTION. 

thence attempt to gain ingress into Peterwardein. I 
was induced to prefer the route through Albania, con- 
scious as I nevertheless was of its peril, because I con- 
sidered that the Danube route by steamer would, in all 
probability, be sooner or later controlled by the Russians, 
and should the latter even refrain from exercising an 
influence on the Turkish government, so as to prevent 
the entry of foreigners into the country, difficulties, 
such as it might be hard to overcome, might still be 
interposed on the part of the British embassy at Con- 
stantinople. 

My predictions were confirmed by the result. Earl 
Mandeville and Captain Herbert, having in vain endea- 
voured to enter Hungary by means of a passport from 
the Foreign Office, had arrived at Corfu, and taken the 
steamer for Constantinople the day before my reaching 
it, bearing the intelligence of my arrest, and expul- 
sion from the Austrian territory. The Earl never 
reached Hungary, nor was Capt. Herbert more success- 
ful ; but the latter arrived with despatches at Viddin, 
just as I was on the point of quitting it, and then 
returned to Constantinople. I was now advised by my 
Polish friend, that Kossuth, Bern, Dembinski, Guyon, 
and the remnant of the Hungarian army had crossed 
the Danube, and found refuge at Viddin, in Bulgaria, 
within the Turkish territory. Thither then I resolved, 
if possible, to proceed, and, to facilitate my plans, was 
furnished by my friend with a letter of introduction to 
an Italian practitioner, formerly resident at Monasteria, 
but who, having been caught by a Turkish officer in 
criminal intercourse with his spouse, and being aware of 
the penalty attached to the offence, had shot the 
Moslem on the spot, and, in despair, quitted the Turk- 
ish territory, to join the Hungarian army. 



CONSEQUENT ALTERATION OF MY PLANS. 131 

After making the requisite purchase of cooking uten- 
sils, and taking leave of the/ Pasha, I hired a couple of 
horses from the post-offiee, and took my departure, 
being now completely recovered from the fatigue of my 
late journey. In leaving we forded the bed of the 
torrent which meanders through the town. In the 
hands of any other people it might be turned to great 
account, whereas it only adds, at present, to the un- 
healthiness of the locality. 

The roads were still none of the best, the ruts left by 
the rude carts of the country were the only indices 
serving to denote them ; but the plain was level, and 
we accordingly rode to Perlipe at a brisk trot. At the 
same rate it would be easy to accomplish from forty to 
forty-five miles per day : up to this point, however, we 
had seldom averaged more than from twenty to twenty- 
five miles, although we had travelled from sunrise to 
sunset. As the night waxed on we were much annoyed 
by the attacks of dogs ; and, no sooner had the canine 
nuisance abated, than my aesthetics were destined to be 
sorely put to the test by the horrid nasal twang with 
which my companions unburthened themselves of a 
ditty of the country. In vain I besought them to keep 
quiet; they did not comprehend my meaning till I, at 
length, bethought myself of a British ballad likely to 
divert them by its pleasing melody. The first verse 
produced the desired effect; and, by the time I had 
concluded, they manifested a reluctance to wake anew 
their own discordant strains. 

It was with some difficulty that we accomplished the 
latter part of the stage. It had already become dark as 
pitch, and we had some awkward and precipitous hills 
to descend. Though stumbling occasionally, we suc- 
ceeded in retaining our seats, and at midnight entered 



132 PERLIPE AND THE BALKHAN. 

the khan, which was one of the best specimens of the 
kind I had yet encountered. 

After a frugal supper, I laid myself down in my capote 
on the verandah by the side of an officer of the gendar- 
merie, and was soon fast asleep. 

Our host was a venerable old Moslem, particularly 
attentive to his guests, but crafty withal, as I had occa- 
sion to discover when I came to hire a horse of him to 
take me to Kuprilik. It being Friday morning, a party 
of Turks in their best attire congregated on the verandah 
to discuss the politics of the day, and satisfy their 
curiosity as to passing events. My arrival, and the 
object of my visit, at present, engrossed all their thoughts, 
but as it was not my business to satisfy their prurient 
inquiries, I lost no time in mounting my horse, which 
proved none of the soundest, and riding a-head of the 
guide, left behind me the wide extending plain, and 
striking on a spur of the Balkhan, ascended to its sum- 
mit. There dismounting, I led the animal down the 
glen by a dangerous p ath, until I arrived at a khan. 

Finding that the master and his man were too much 
occupied to wait upon me at the moment, I caught, 
killed, and roasted a fowl, gathered a melon in the 
garden, prepared coffee, and had despatched the ample 
meal by the time the keraje had arrived. 

Gold abounds in this portion of the range ; the dust 
and small particles of the metal are continually being 
washed up on the surface by the autumn rains, yet the 
Turks, like the dog in the manger, will neither explore 
the locality on their own account, nor suffer strangers 
to institute a search. 

In the evening some Turks, on their way northwards 
from Salonica rode up, and took up their quarters be- 
sides me. I hardly know why, but their manner and 



PERILS ON THE ROAD. 133 

appearance by no means prepossessed me in their favor. 
One of them mustered a few words of Italian, which he 
turned to due account by subjecting me to a close 
inquisitorial as to the motives which had induced me to 
traverse almost alone these wild and inhospitable regions. 
I parried his inquiries as well as I could ; for I was now 
approaching the confines of Servia and the seat of a 
Sclavonic population, as the names of the towns and 
villages already indicated. 

The next morning I was on horseback before either 
they or my guide were prepared to follow, and traversing, 
as quickly as I could, a fertile and tolerably cultivated 
plain, ascended the Balkhan downs, and gained the heart 
of the range. 

As I entertained some suspicion as to the designs of 
my Turkish fellow-travellers, I determined to ride on, 
and trust to my own resources for the discovery of the 
road. I soon became sorely puzzled; tracks radiated 
in all directions ; my only plan was to keep to that of 
the greatest promise until I again approached a village. 
Fortune smiled on me. I had not wandered for a mo- 
ment from the point for which I was making ; and enter- 
ing a village, I searched, but in vain, for a khan in which 
to rest my jaded horse. In a trice I was beset by all 
the dogs of the village, large and ferocious animals, 
which flew at the animal and myself in every quarter, 
goading her almost to madness, and rendering a reten- 
tion of my seat a very problematical undertaking. After 
ridding myself, by a few vigorous charges, of my formid- 
able assailants, I was fain, therefore, to pursue my course 
along the dreary route, forded the river Vardar, deno- 
minated Axius by the ancients, and climbing a lofty 
steep, descried in the distance signs of improvement 
which foreboded my advent into another region. 



134 KUPRILIK AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY. 

As I descended the mountains I found the vine 
entering again into the list of agricultural products; 
then a large farm-house indicated progress; till the 
minarets and towers of Kuprilik at length became 
visible. Taking up my quarters at a khan at the 
entrance of the town, I breakfasted, and then sought 
out an Italian doctor to whom I had been recom- 
mended. He informed me that it would be necessary 
to remain at Kuprilik for the night, a horse not being 
procurable on any terms at the post. I was the sooner 
reconciled to the detention by a survey of the natural 
beauties of the vicinity, and the picturesque position of 
the town, many of the houses of which are constructed 
in very good taste, though the streets have as little to 
recommend them as ever. 

In addition to the mosques, there are several Greek 
churches, that people — or to speak more properly, the 
Grseco-Sclave — forming the larger proportion of the 
population. Kuprilik, situated on the Vardar, is the 
seat of a Pashalic and fortress, and, as in all the larger 
Turkish towns, no person is admitted under pain of 
imprisonment, to perambulate the streets without a 
lantern after sunset. I, therefore, hastened to rest 
betimes. Early the next morning, I made my way to 
the post-office, and after some delay, arising from a 
difficulty in procuring change for a Napoleon d'or, 
engaged a man and two horses to take me to Kuma- 
nowa. As we emerged from the town, I had leisure 
to admire once more its picturesque dwellings and 
beautiful position on the river. 

My guide, with the wonted effrontery of his order, 
had coolly appropriated the best of the horses, and 
mine, though a willing animal, was anything but cal- 
culated for a safe transit through the dangerous 



A TURKISH SADDLE KUMANOWA. 135 

ravines we had occasion to traverse on our way. The 
slightest twitch of the curb, indeed, was sufficient to 
cause her to rear and caper about like one possessed. 
The best plan, and the one I in general adopted, is, 
before you start, to wait and see which horse your 
selfish guide selects, and to make him in every case 
dismount and exchange ; for, depend upon it, you will 
soon discover the reason of his choice. A Turkish 
saddle, however well calculated for short, stout men 
like the Turks, whose habit of squatting has conduced 
to a flexibility of muscle, which nature has kindly 
adapted to her ends, imposes a species of purgatory 
on an Englishman, whose legs become so cramped by 
confinement, as scarcely to be sensible of their hold in 
the stirrups at last. 

After clearing the ravine, we entered on a vast plain, 
watered by the Braounista river, which affords pas- 
turage to large herds of oxen ; and by the time we had 
reached its northern limit, the white houses of Kuma- 
nowa appeared in sight on a second and adjoining plain, 
separated from the other by a gentle elevation. No 
sooner had we alighted at the khan, than a crowd was 
attracted by curiosity to the spot, and greatly impeded 
our cooking operations by their minute inquiries of the 
guide respecting my objects and vocation. 

No long time elapsed, ere I had hired a man and 
another pair of horses to carry me to Vraniya. Instead 
of becoming cheaper as the country became more 
practicable, horse-hire increased in cost at every stage 
from Monasteria northwards. It is true that we were 
better mounted; for the bold and hardy breed of 
Bosnia there superseded the slow but sure quadruped 
of Albania. The keraje was as anxious as any 
of his predecessors to protract the journey to suit 



136 JUNCTION OF THE BALKHAN AND PINDUS RANGES. 

his own convenience; and we had not proceeded an 
hour on our way before he entered a khan with the 
view of enticing me to pass the night there. After, 
however, my passport had been examined by a party of 
police in the village, I scrupled not to pursue my course 
along the plain, and soon descried my grumbling fol- 
lower in my rear. 

The cottages of the peasantry in this district were of 
a superior order, and presented a very cheerful aspect ; 
in fact, they seemed to have sensibly improved as we 
advanced northward. Nor was I less charmed with 
the peculiar sweetness of the pastoral music, which 
emanated from every portion of the plain in soft and 
soothing cadence. 

Towards dusk, we alighted at a wretched khan, the 
internal appearance of which greatly enlightened me 
as to the cause of the guide's reluctance to proceed. 
Nevertheless, we obtained some eggs, which, with coffee 
and the black bread of the country, formed a supper 
not to be despised in the wild, and soon retired to rest 
by the side of our horses. At day -break, we were again 
in the saddle ; and after leaving the fertile plain behind 
us, entered on a series of downs, from which we ob- 
tained a magnificent view of the meeting point of the 
Balkhan and Pindus ranges. Fortunately, the sun had 
decked them with the most brilliant colouring, so as to 
exhibit in full relief every peak and crest, the whole 
forming a picture of almost unrivalled sublimity. As 
we traversed the lofty plateau, we encountered immense 
herds of lean swine on their way to the southward, 
driven by Bulgarians, remarkable from the singularity 
of their rude national costume. We had now reached 
the confines both of Bulgaria and Servia, and were in 
the midst of a Sclavonic people. 



SOURCES OF THE MORAVA. 137 

In descending, by a dangerous path down a magnificent 
and beautifully timbered glen, I observed some of the 
richest iron stone cropping out from either bank. Coal 
I also believe to exist in the vicinity. 

The glen in question extends, east and west, for 
several miles. At its western entrance, the Bulgarian 
Morava pours down from the Tehar Dagh, and issuing 
from the glen a little to the south of Vraniya, traverses 
a vast extent of plain, forming with the Nissa, one of 
its affluents, the boundary between Bulgaria and Servia. 
Near Alexinitza, it re-enters the latter country, and, 
running through the heart of Servia, falls into the 
Danube, a few miles below Semendria. 

In the evening, we put up and supped at a khan in 
the centre of the glen. Finding the rooms as ruinous 
and dirty as usual, and the fleas and other insects as 
abundant as ever, I stretched my limbs in my capote 
on the verandah. Rising betimes, we again defiled 
along the glen, this time in company with a peasant, 
with whose appearance I was not by any means pre- 
possessed, the rather that I continually caught his eye 
directed upon my baggage. At length, emerging from 
the glen, we entered on the extensive and fertile plain 
of Vraniya, bidding a final adieu to the Balkhan range. 

In the vicinity of the town, w T e found the grape in 
high perfection; and melons, as in all these regions, 
lay in myriads on the ground between the rows of 
maize. Vraniya enjoys a beautiful site, on an eminence 
situate between two plains; but the town possesses 
little to recommend it. 

At the khan, one of the dirtiest places I had thus 
far baited at, I fell in with a Greek, who kindly offered 
to conduct to me, and introduce, a young Frenchman 
of his acquaintance, then sojourning at Vraniya. From 



138 VRANIYA A FRENCH INVALID. 

the latter I learnt that he had been formerly attached to 
the embassy at Constantinople; but, having been attacked 
by cholera, while passing through Vraniya, on his 
return to that place, had remained there until he re- 
covered; but not before he had been driven to great 
straits for a subsistence. "Want of funds had since 
prevented him from prosecuting his journey; but he 
had purchased a horse, and hoped to accomplish his 
object in a few days. Possessed of some slight know- 
ledge of medicine, he had practised to a considerable 
extent in the town and its environs; but he bitterly 
complained of the dishonesty of the people, who seldom, 
or never, paid him the debts they had contracted. 

My friend, like the generality of Frenchmen one 
meets with in distant lands, professed to be a strong 
partizan of the English alliance, and was even moved 
to tears, when I remarked, with some earnestness, that 
a war between the two great western nations would 
henceforth be attended with all the horrors of a civil 
war, so intimate had become the union of interests and 
affections. 

Horses not being procurable at Vraniya at any price, 
my friend recommended me to take a seat in one of 
the train of bullock carts plying between that place 
and Lescovitza. We started in the evening, and the 
heavy lumbering motion of the cart soon threw me into 
a state of somnolency. When I awoke in the morning, 
I was surprised to find that we had scarcely advanced 
four miles towards our destination, the cattle having 
been unyoked during the night. 

For some distance we traversed a plain : and, at a 
police-station in the midst of it, I was aroused by a 
demand for toll by a Turkish gendarme. The looks of 
my bullock driver, who had already satisfied all demands 



PROCEED TO LESCOYITZA IN A BULLOCK DRAY. 139 

legally payable for tlie vehicle, indicated that an im- 
position was being attempted. For a moment, therefore, 
I hesitated to respond to this application, being in 
ignorance of the justness of the claim. The choleric 
Turk would not brook delay, and had seized my 
chibouque and struck me with it before I had time to 
collect myself. To re-gain it I descended from the cart 
and springing on him before he could possibly protect 
himself, recovered the unlawful prize. The corporal of 
the post, who had thus far remained a mere spectator 
of the outrage, seeing that his comrade was not faring 
so well as he had expected, now rushed up, and pre- 
vented a more serious complication. 

Thus far I had found the Turkish police continually 
bent on extortions of this sort : indeed, my friend at 
Vraniya assured me that his own experience led him to 
believe that there was a far greater cause for appre- 
hension from the savagery of these men, than from the 
banditti they were placed to keep in check. 

The roads continuing almost impassable, we made 
tardy progress, and every now and then inspanned to 
permit the cattle to graze. On these occasions, when 
required for sendee, they would in general be found to 
have strayed a mile or two in the forests, a circumstance 
which, together with the necessity for felling oak timber 
to supply the constantly recurring defects of our 
primitive wains, rendered the journey anything but a 
rapid one. It was to me a subject of astonishment that 
such a degree of negligence should be displayed by the 
government in reference to the havoc made in the rising 
young forests by these wandering carriers. 

At length we entered another romantic glen, and 
followed the course of the Morava. Next day, in the 
afternoon, I became so weary of our snail-like progress, 



140 CONFLICT WITH TURKISH GENDARMES. 

and so annoyed at the loss of time already incurred, 
that I determined to proceed to Lescovitza on foot, 
leaving my baggage in charge of a Magyar doctor, 
who was a passenger in another of the waggons. 

After a walk of two miles, I entered a khan, and 
obtained some eggs and coffee. Having observed what 
two other travellers had proffered for the same accom- 
modation, I placed a similar amount in the hands of the 
khanaje, but he professed to be dissatisfied, and followed 
me, demanding something in addition. At last he 
dropped off, and I pursued my way. As I entered a 
village a slight distance beyond, I heard shouts of men 
in pursuit, and in a short time two Turkish gendarmes 
were close upon my heels. The commotion brought 
out a stalwart and ferocious-looking negro from a house 
in the vicinity, who closed upon me in front, while a 
crowd from the khan flocked to see the skirmish. The 
Turks aimed blows at me with their muskets, which I 
parried with my chibouque ; but the negro, getting into 
my rear, succeeded in grasping the collar of my coat, 
which he tore from top to bottom. At this moment 
two Servian horsemen rode up, and, separating us, 
relieved me from the unequal contest. 

After passing the Morava by a rude bridge at this 
place, I soon came upon the great plain of Lescovitza, 
which extends nearly sixty miles in a line from east to 
west. Already dusk was setting in, and I was sorely 
puzzled to trace my course along the plain, in conse- 
quence of the lights which flickered at various points of 
the compass, all denoting the site of some town or 
village. To add to my perplexities, a heavy rain 
came on. I, therefore, entered a khan, and learnt, to 
my delight, that I had so far taken the direct course, 
and that the first town on my right, which I had 



VALLEY OF THE MORAVA LESCOVITZA. 141 

supposed to be Lescovitza, was called Medoka, the former 
place being six miles distant. Here I contrived to 
snatch an hour or two's rest, regardless of the rain, 
which every now and then awoke me by its clatter, as 
it descended through the roof on my capote. In the 
morning I found the clayey track, by courtesy denomi- 
nated a road, scarcely passable on foot, and I slipped at 
every step. 

The valley of the Morava is composed of the richest 
alluvial soil, capable of producing the finest and most 
abundant crops ; yet its resources are almost entirely 
undeveloped, except where the primitive pump in 
general use over Eastern Europe rears its rude trunk, 
and affords a partial supply of the element essential to 
fertility. The course of the Morava, like the geogra- 
phical delineation of Albania, Macedonia, and Servia, in 
general, is very incorrectly laid down in all our English 
maps ; and this remark applies not only to the Balkhan 
range, but even to the boundaries of the provinces. 

Outside Lescovitza, I was invited by a Servian mer- 
chant to enter a khan and partake of coffee. Ten 
minutes further walk brought me into the centre of 
the town. Erom being unpaved, Lescovitza was almost 
entirely under water ; and it was with difficulty that I 
could effect a passage across the streets. I was rather 
embarrassed in the choice of a khan, in consequence of 
the competition on the part of the hosts of three large 
edifices, for the honour of entertaining me. Judging 
from the exterior of these buildings, there are evident 
signs betokening the advance step by step into a more 
civilised region ; yet, in the simplicity of their interior, 
they vie with the rudest of Turkish hostelries, not a 
chair, or table, or sofa, or bed, or table, or glass, or 
knife and fork, or plate, or the simplest requisites, being 



142 A MAGYAR DOCTOR ROUTE TO NISSA. 

obtainable, and the only furniture comprising a rude 
mat, intended for a bed. I prepared breakfast as soon 
as possible ; for I now began to feel the want of a resto- 
rative, after so long an abstinence from food. 

In the afternoon the bullock-carts arrived, my 
abandoning them having apparently tended to expedite 
their movements. Having attempted, but in vain, to 
procure a horse, I was obliged to consent to another 
unavoidable sacrifice of time, but succeeded in the 
evening in hiring a man and steed to take me next day 
to Nissa. The Magyar doctor, my new acquaintance, 
having invited me to join him in another apartment, I 
had an opportunity of acquiring some detailed informa- 
tion as to the state of the country, and his own 
adventures in these regions. From his own account, 
he was the authorised agent of Morison's Pills at 
Temesvar, in Hungary ; but he visited Servia once every 
year to supply the local consumption. He had formed 
a lofty idea of his own importance as a vicegerent of the 
great Morison, the " President of the Royal British 
College of Health," as he repeatedly called to my mind, 
and became, therefore, naturally speechless with as- 
tonishment and chagrin, when I, unable to resist the 
temptation to malice, assured him that his cherished 
patron was a charlatan, who had himself dubbed himself 
head of that imaginary College ; as president, professor, 
and lecturer of which his official duties were not, 
after all, very laborious. 

The next morning we took our departure for Nissa. 
My keraje was a civil, obliging fellow, remarkable for 
the speed with which he contrived to make his way 
across the slippery fields, where the horse, less expert, 
was repeatedly stumbling. Immense quantities of 
tobacco are produced in the valley of the Morava ; and 



DESCRIPTION OF THAT CITY. 143 

at every khan which we entered we observed large heaps 
undergoing the process of curing. Such is the fertility 
of the soil that, however the Bulgarians may be 
oppressed by Turkish exaction, they, nevertheless, con- 
trive to exhibit proofs of a thriving condition. 

It was necessary to ford the Morava with the guide 
behind me at various points : so swollen, however, had 
the river become from the rains, that the current nearly 
carried the horse off its legs, and, though we strode at 
full length on her back, to avoid an immersion of the 
extremities, the saddle itself was wetted by the flood. 
The rain continued to pour down in torrents, and, at 
every step, I expected to be thrown from the saddle by 
my jaded nag, till at last my presentiment was verified, 
by her slipping and throwing me into the sludge. I 
remounted, unhurt, and rode on with a party of Servians 
who had overtaken me, until we reached a khan, and 
there found a temporary shelter. As we proceeded 
along the plain, my guide pointed out at intervals several 
ruined castles and towers of Roman or Byzantine con- 
struction. 

Nissa (Naissus) is situated on an offshoot of the 
Morava plain, through which flows the Ncuaaos ttotcl- 
/^o? of the ancients. From a distance its ensemble 
produces a very striking effect, the lofty, tapering mina- 
rets of the mosques, and the Turkish town, contrasting 
strangely with the ancient and solid Roman castle, 
which has alike set the ravages of time and the assaults 
of man at defiance. 

On my arrival, I immediately sought out the Greek 
medical practitioner, who was educated at Constanti- 
nople, and spoke French with great fluency. He kindly 
undertook to introduce me to the Pasha, shew me over 
the town, and arrange for my journey to Alexinitza. 



144 THE NAI2202 II0TAM02. 

As it happened, the Pasha, who was a great friend of 
the Hungarian cause, was out of town ; but his subor- 
dinates received me with great kindness, and invited 
me to share in the unctuous mess brought up for their 
midday repast. The secretary undertook to provide me 
with what I should have found difficulty in procuring, 
a horse on which to accompany the post, if I would 
engage, on arriving at Viddin, to transmit a letter to 
the doctor, containing a narrative of events in reference 
to the Hungarian exiles. After an inspection, there- 
fore, of the old Roman castle, and the various Latin 
inscriptions on the walls, I returned to the khan to 
prepare for my departure in the evening. 

The divan of Nissa, like the buildings of the same class 
in other cities, is being suffered gradually to fall into 
decay, although the Pashas are bound, in strict right, 
to keep them in repair at their own expense. So flimsy, 
indeed, were the supports used for propping up the 
mouldering fabric, that I felt I incurred some peril in 
entering it. 

The beautiful Naissus, that once in limpid purity 
laved the walls of the Roman fortress, has now become 
the great cause of the unhealthiness of the place, in 
consequence of being made the receptacle of its filth. 
I was not a little diverted, therefore, at the naive 
response of my medical friend to whom I made some 
remark on the subject. " Ah c'est bon ! moi, je suis 
tranquille ;" and satisfied he had reason to be, for two- 
thirds of the local ailments were traceable to its perni- 
cious influence. 

Previous to my quitting Nissa, a little incident, illus- 
trative of Turkish extortion, happened to undeceive me 
as to the apparently primitive simplicity of manner for 
which I had given that people credit, and to prove that 



INCIDENT ON DEPARTURE. 145 

the Osmanli, no more than his neighbours, will omit to 
avail himself of any opportunity which may offer itself 
for acquiring unlawful gain. When on the point of 
starting, one of the party, charged with the conveyance 
of the mail, demanded of me the regular charge for 
posting. Remembering the promise of the Pasha's 
Secretary, I naturally demurred, and referred him to 
the Postmaster, in whose company I had just before 
dined. He replied that that functionary was at his 
prayers, and could not be disturbed. I apprized him of 
the Pasha's order, and directed him to wait till the 
Postmaster's vespers were concluded. As soon as that 
official was at liberty to attend to me, he affected to 
throw all the blame on his subordinate, but I was duly 
aware of his duplicity, and was resolved not to submit 
to it. 

We continued our course, at a smart pace, along the 
valley of the Morava, which, to all appearance, would 
seem to be connected with the great plain of the Danube. 
The night was so dark that we were every moment in 
danger, not only of losing our way, but of straying from 
each other. The only objects Ave encountered as we 
rode along, were the rude wains of the country, the 
approach of which we could distinguish at a great dis- 
tance, owing to their creaking motion. During mid* 
night we put up at a khan on the road ; at two in the 
morning were again in motion, and soon we ascended 
the Eastern ridge of hills overlooking the capacious 
valley. 

As we entered within the Servian frontier, the post 
was on the qui vive ; for the Turks are in continual 
apprehension of the Servian bandits that roam along 
the borders. On reaching Alexinitza, I was at once con- 
ducted into the parlatoria of the quarantine establish- 

H 



146 ALEXIN1TZA SERVIAN QUARANTINE. 

ment. There I was visited by the Servian medical 
officer, a person of gentlemanly exterior, who issued 
immediate orders that a private room and attendance 
should be prepared for my reception. 

The system of quarantine, which prevails along the 
Servian frontiers to the East, is, in reality, a political, 
not a sanitary precaution. Were the exclusion of in- 
fected persons the ruling motive, I can only take leave 
to remark that the regimen to which an individual is 
here subjected, is admirably calculated to induce 
disease. Thus, on entering the station, I was in the 
enjoyment of perfect health; on quitting it, I was suf- 
fering from a severe cold and dysentery, occasioned by 
the barbarous neglect of the authorities to provide the 
first elements of comfort required for the health of those 
whom they immure, instead, in their cold and gloomy 
dungeons. A propriety, unknown to the guardians of 
this pseudo Sanatorium, forbids my entering more fully 
into particulars calculated to show how decency is there 
violated ; happily for them, they are troubled by the 
presence of few or no English, French, or Austrian 
travellers, or the evil would assuredly be remedied. A 
straw mattrass was provided in my wretched apartment, 
but the attendant had contrived to appropriate it to his 
own use, and muttered his reproaches without sparing, 
when I forced him to hand it over to me. At this for- 
bidding house of detention, I was confined for forty- 
eight hours, my only solace during that tedious interval 
being a visit from the Anglo- Servian courier employed 
between this place and Belgrade, who came to offer his 
services in forwarding my letters to Mr. Fonblanque, 
British Consul at that place. At Alexinitza, the courier 
is relieved by a coadjutor, who carries them on to Con- 
stantinople. 



TRACES OF THE SCLAVONIC MIGRATION. 147 

Although I had traced on my route the vestiges of 
the great Sclavonic migration as far southwards as 
Thessaly and Macedonia, it was not until I arrived at 
Alexinitza that I found myse]f in the midst of the race 
in its true homogeneous character, and speaking its 
own peculiar language. On entering the town, I dis- 
cerned the slow, but nevertheless, palpable signs of 
progress all around me. The caldron of civilisation 
may be said to be on its simmer : let us hope the spirit 
that is now being awakened may conduce to a more 
rapid and fruitful movement among the national ele- 
ments. The exterior appearance of the streets and 
houses is neat and respectable, but much remains to be 
done in the way of comfort within. 

One advantage Servia certainly possesses through 
her quarantine regulations, the right of free pratique 
with Austria; and such are the facilities offered by 
the Danube, that a large and annually increasing trade 
has sprung up as if by enchantment. In return for 
the silk, timber, pork, and other raw produce absorbed 
by Austria, Serviaconsum.es a large amount of Austrian 
manufactures. Whilst, on the other hand, the gold, 
and more valuable silver currency of Austria, has, of 
late years, passed to a great extent into the hands of 
the Servians and Turks. Hence it fails to find its way 
back to the hands of its original proprietors. As many 
as thirty ducats may be seen strung round the neck 
of a Servian damsel, whose wealth and ornament they 
combine to form. From this it will be inferred that 
banking and a system of credit are as yet unknown, 
and with truth ; for as soon as a ducat is required by 
the peasant to make a payment, he flies to his daugh- 
ter's necklace for the required amount. 

The Servians, regarded physically, are a noble and 



148 SERVIAN CUSTOMS CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

muscular race, full of courage and animal life. They 
offer no evidence of want of intellect ; but, as is the 
case with all semi-barbarians, their ignorance has 
proved an obstacle to the acquisition of habits of 
industry and of fidelity in their transactions. Gaming 
too is a national defect, and a passion for its exciting 
pleasure is as rife among the lower as among the higher 
classes. 

After a long delay, occasioned by bargaining for a 
guide and pair of horses, an extortion was attempted 
on the part of the civil authorities to which I would 
not submit ; and the guide being found to have had a 
share in the transaction, I dismissed him, and returned 
to my friend the surgeon's to dinner. No sooner had 
he succeeded in procuring a substitute, than a fresh 
difficulty arose respecting the rate of exchange for my 
gold, an attempt being made to compel me to part 
with it for little more than half its value. My firmness, 
however, prevailed in insuring more equitable terms, 
but not before my temper had been sorely tried by the 
inquisitive crowd which pressed upon me during the 
altercation, and conceived themselves justified in joining 
in the attempt at fraud. 

In quitting Alexinitza, we met waggon after waggon 
laden with the produce of the vintage, and ever and 
anon, some gentle, bashful girl stepped forward to 
proffer a luscious bunch of the fruit to my acceptance, 
which I found it impossible to refuse. 

The road now admitted of rapid motion, and since I 
had taken care to select the steed with the most spirit, 
and had exchanged the Turkish saddle for one of 
Servian sheepskin, I soon left the suroje in the rear, 
and quitting the plain of the Morava, entered a ravine 
clad on either side with noble and gigantic timber. As 



RACHNIA A HILL FORT. 149 

dusk approached, and I had advanced some miles alone, 
I halted for the coming up of the guide ; we rested 
for a brief space at a khan, and on resuming our course, 
the glen all at once expanded into a fertile and well 
cultivated valley. 

At 10 p.m., we entered the town of Rachnia, at 
which we took up our qarters for the night. Rachnia 
is a very pretty town, traversed by an excellent road, 
and the accommodation at the hotel was the best I 
had met with since I had left Corfu. The Morava, 
which passes a little to the west of the town, is turned 
to good account in the propulsion of corn-mills, etc. 
At the khan, I met with the Commissioner of the district, 
apparently a member of the military profession. He 
was unremitting in his attention ; and, judging that a 
fresh supper could not be prepared with fitting despatch, 
offered me a share of his own. I found him very com- 
municative, and in return he was anxious to elicit my 
opinion on the Hungarian question, on which, as a Serb, 
he had formed a view at variance with mine, and I am 
sorry to add, in antagonism to liberal principles. After 
supper we stretched ourselves in our capotes on the 
matting in an adjoining room for the night. 

On the following morning, as soon as breakfast was 
despatched, we proceeded in company to Paranin Pa- 
lanka. Our course lay for two miles through the 
valley of the Morava; after which, we ascended a 
mountain range. At its commencement, he pointed out 
to me a hill fort, constructed on a rocky, isolated cone, 
after the same fashion as those of India, and only ac- 
cessible by -a zigzag path. We then struck upon a long- 
glen. The peasantry we met, on our way, were clothed 
in sheepskin caps and jackets, and the Greek trowser ; 
but the shepherds might have been taken for so many 



150 ELEVATED PLATEAU — GREAT MILITARY ROAD. 

bears, their whole habiliments being formed of sheep- 
skin, from the cap downwards, dyed brown. My magis- 
terial friend was too important a personage to put up 
with any unnecessary annoyance, still less to be worried 
by dogs with impunity ; and one of a pack having 
made a spring at his legs, he coolly took out a pistol, 
and shot the yelping animal on the spot. 

As soon as we had reached the table land, we entered 
a small hut, in a village embosomed in walnut trees, 
where some stirabout, composed of maize, and rackee, 
— a spirit, distilled from the same — was provided for us 
by a peasant. The country, in this direction, is very 
romantic in character ; but it is nowhere so elevated as 
it is represented en the maps. 

Quitting the great plateau of Servia, we descended, 
through an undulating country, by an excellent road to 
another Servian town, at which we bade farewell to our 
kind-hearted friend. There we dined; and, after my 
passport had been examined and vised, we forded the 
Morava, and pursued our course along the great military 
road, which borders on the confines of Servia. 

Towards evening, we put up at a miserable khan in a 
small village on the road, where my suraje being 
anxious to sleep, and seeing that I was unwilling to 
remain, called the khanaje and the people to assist 
him, in preventing my departure. I walked on, how- 
ever, conscious that my recalcitrant servant would see 
the necessity of following ; and, before I had completed 
a mile, he overtook me, loudly vociferating his indigna- 
tion. Our course lay through a beautiful valley. The 
weather being cool, and the roads good, we made con- 
siderable progress before midnight. "We passed large 
parties of travellers bivouacked under tents by the side 
of the highway ; and on reaching a khan, eight miles 



QUARANTINE POST THE TWO FRONTIERS. 151 

distant from the scene of our quarrel, I gave the 
signal to halt. During the night, and succeeding day, 
I suffered considerably from the dysentery caught at 
Alexinitza, and became so weak, as hardly to be able 
to support myself on the saddle. 

To save himself trouble, my guide artfully took a 
short road across country to the next quarantine station ; 
and, having there procured a return cargo of sheep- 
skins, left me at the post, before I was made aware 
of the consequences of his duplicity. I now found 
that, as we had avoided a town on the regular route, I 
should be obliged to return some six miles to procure 
the requisite vise, unless, indeed, I chose to attempt a 
passage across the frontier by stealth. As time was 
precious, I resolved to try the dangerous experiment; 
but I was descried by the watchman on the hills, and, 
finally, by a guardian on one of the signal towers, who 
challenged me to halt, under penalty of being fired 
upon. Hastening up with his loaded rifle, he conveyed 
me back to the station. My breach of the regulations 
was ascribed to ignorance, rather than wilfulness, and 
was not, therefore, visited with punishment; so that, 
after depositing my baggage there, I was permitted to 
proceed to the town to procure the requisite pass. 

The Servian frontier is separated from the Turkish 
by a line of demarcation formed of high palisades, 
except where the mountains intervene, and interpose a 
sufficient barrier. On the Servian side, is the prairie ; 
on the Turkish, a plantation of stunted oaks — in some 
places, fifteen miles deep. Along the prairie, watch- 
posts are stationed at intervals. To defend this cordon, 
several hundred men are necessarily employed: the 
expense is prodigious, for so questionable a measure; 
but an excuse is thereby offered for the maintenance of 



152 ATTEMPT IN VAIN TO PASS BY STEALTH. 

a considerable body of troops, capable of rendering 
efficient service as an irregular force. In returning to 
the town indicated, I bad an opportunity of surveying 
the country. On every side rolled an undulating 
prairie ; in some spots, producing corn, or pasture ; 
here and there planted with oak coppices. Alongside the 
Morava, which stole quietly in its rear, rose the plateau 
already described ; and to the south, and to the south- 
west, and north-west, the mountain range, which forms 
the natural, but not the political boundary of the 
country. 

The town had a beautiful appearance, thanks to the 
contrast presented by the snowy white of its houses, 
with the green foliage by which it was embosomed. 
From its position on the high road to the Danube, it 
cannot fail to enjoy a considerable traffic. In the 
absence of the local superintendent of police, I was 
fain to reconcile myself to a further sacrifice af time, 
and to pass the night at a khan offering the most 
wretched accommodation. The only persons, more- 
over, to whom I could make myself understood, were 
some Germans attached to the police department. In 
the town were stationed two or three companies of 
Servian troops, who are, in general, fine muscular men, 
clad in the German fashion. 

The next morning, I procured permission to proceed, 
and returned to the frontier. A horse not being obtain- 
able either on the Servian or Turkish side, I was com- 
pelled not only to start on foot but to carry my baggage 
myself; and, although I had left the heavy portion at 
Corfu, and had reduced the remnant to the smallest 
possible weight and compass, it nevertheless greatly 
hampered my movements. Moreover, I had launched 
into the forest without any guide ; and, as the tracks 



VIDDIN INCIDENT ON ENTERING THE TOWN. 153 

radiated in every direction, I liad to depend upon my 
instinct alone to preserve me from wandering. 

At length I was overtaken by a peasant woman in a 
cart, who was so obliging as to ease me of my load, and 
to give me a lift in her rude vehicle. The country, on 
every side, appeared a vast waste of underwood, and 
the aspect of things was by no means improved by the 
weather, a heavy rain having set in. On arriving at a 
village I determined to seek shelter for the night ; and, 
though the accommodation was of the most humble 
kind, I did not the less enjoy the frugal repast after the 
turmoil and vexations of the day. 

In the morning I procured a horse and guide to 
take me to Viddin. For several miles, our course lay 
through the waste of brushwood 'already described, 
until, gaining the edge of a hill, we caught sight of the 
minarets of Viddin, six miles distant in the plain below, 
together with the Danube and a large portion of Wal- 
lachia. The slopes of the hill were planted with the vine, 
and the proprietor of one of the vineyards hurried up 
to the road on catching a sight of me, to offer me some 
grapes. Opposite a khan at which we stopped on our 
way across the plain, my horse slipped and threw me 
from the saddle, but without the slightest injury, and 
soon after we entered the town of Viddin. 

At the gate, which was occupied by a body of gen- 
darmes, my passport was subjected to a minute examina- 
tion, after which I was sent on to the divan, escorted 
by a Turkish soldier, to undergo the surveillance of the 
Pasha himself. I had been previously apprised that 
the police regulations had been recently rendered addi- 
tionally rigorous, and I was just beginning to anticipate 
anything but an agreeable result from the forthcoming 
interview, when I accidentally encountered a very smart 

h 2 



154 MY APPEARANCE INTERVIEW WITH THE PASHA. 

officer, clad in the magnificent Hungarian attila, and 
accompanying him a tall, stalwart person, wearing a 
long beard, whom I at once recognised as an English- 
man, notwithstanding his bronzed complexion and the 
graceful sombrero with which his head was shrouded. 

Hearing them conversing in English, I ventured to 
accost them in my perplexity, and explain the position 
in which I then found myself. They at once introduced 
themselves to me ; the one as General Guyon, the other 
as Mr. Longworth. Since I was entirely ignorant of 
the Turkish language, I requested them to inform me 
where an interpreter could be procured, when Mr. Long- 
worth offered to accompany me to the Pasha, and 
explain my object in visiting Viddin. I confess I was 
not a little abashed at my wild, uncouth appearance, as 
compared with their own. What with the necessarily 
limited amount of baggage I had started with, what 
with the havoc a transit through thickets and over rocks 
had made in every article of apparel — and what 
with the rough treatment I had experienced from the 
gendarmerie, an inspection of my itinerant wardrobe 
turned out to be anything but satisfactory. However, 
the occasion did not admit of delay; and, ere ten 
minutes had elapsed, we had entered the square of the 
divan, and were admitted into the presence of the 
Pasha. We found his Highness squatted on an otto- 
man, smoking his chibouque ; by his side sate a child, 
with a fan in his hand, to keep off the flies. In conse- 
quence of his knowledge of the Turkish language, my 
friend Mr. Longworth possessed considerable influence 
over him, and easily persuaded him to allow me to 
remain. 

On the termination of the interview, I set about 
inquiring for a khan wherein to take up my residence. 



TAKE UP MY QUARTERS WITH GENERAL GUYON. 155 

Viddin, as may readily be supposed, already overflowed 
with the exiles domiciled there ; two of the larger khans 
contained as many hundred inmates, and I had already 
consumed some time to no purpose in seeking accommo- 
dation, when I fell in with an English missionary, in 
the employ of the Society for Conversion of the Jews, 
who kindly offered to place his own apartment at 
my disposal. I had scarcely made the requisite 
arrangements, ere a huzzar stepped in to inform me 
that General Guyon would be glad if I would take up 
my residence in his quarters, and that he had received 
orders in consequence to carry my baggage thither. 

The quarters of the general were such as the Spartan 
Agis might with reason have prided himself on. The 
walls were hung like an armoury, with the arms and 
accoutrements of the General, and the trappings of his 
stud. In three of the corners were located the three 
beds of Guyon, Longworth, and myself, all composed 
of hay. The room boasted of no other article of 
furniture. The adjoining apartment was tenanted by 
our two valets, and a number of geese and ducks. At 
times, it has happened that I have been awaked at 
midnight out of a sound sleep, by a visit from a duck, 
or by one of the other web -footed wanderers leaving his 
own apartment in quest of novelty, and cackling near 
my ear. A nervous, or superstitious person, might have 
been thrown into hysterics by such an apparition. 

Our fare was, if possible, still more accordant with 
the Spartan usage. It was limited to two meals a day, 
in the latter of which the officers in the suite of the 
General participated. It consisted of a cup of coffee in 
the morning, and in the evening, of a refection, 
composed of a soup, into which entered the most mis- 
cellaneous elements, followed by the course tough 



156 DISTRESS IN THE HUNGARIAN CAMP. 

viands of the country, which were washed down by the 
insipid wine of Bulgaria. Yet we were as merry and 
joyous withal, as though we had sat down to the 
choicest of banquets, so readily does the human mind 
adapt itself to the exigences of the moment ; and, for 
myself, I can say with sincerity, that the whole of the 
three w^eeks thus spent in the society of my military 
friends, will remain, henceforth, as so many red letter 
days in the calendar of my existence. 

A small remnant of the exiles only, and such as had 
funds in hand, were located within the walls of the 
city. The major portion were encamped without, under 
tents, on the cold damp plain of the Danube. 

Had any other alternative presented itself at the 
moment, than a tacit submission to their fate ; or, had 
the Turks neglected to disarm that host which, even in 
distress, retained all its courage and daring, the force 
placed over it as a guard would have proved entirely 
inadequate to the emergency. To keep in check a 
similar number of British troops, in sight of the conse- 
quences to which the injudicious selection of the 
encampment daily and hourly gave rise, would, I feel 
convinced, have been a task of supererogation. It was 
alleged, and with apparent reason, that the Pasha had 
taken advantage of the novelty of the situation, to 
abstract a portion of the supplies destined for their 
provision. Many of them had, therefore, been com- 
pelled to dispose of articles of clothing, which an 
exposure to the bleak winds and insalubrious atmos- 
phere of the plain of the Danube rendered essential to 
the preservation of their health. They had all under- 
gone the most terrible hardships by their forced marches 
before the enemy, and by the horrors of the late flight ; 
inadequate, or unnutritious food, soon made its effects 



INTERVIEWS WITH KOSSUTH. 157 

felt in like manner. Numbers perished from starvation, 
or inanition, during my temporary residence amongst 
them. 

It was a curious spectacle to witness, the manner in 
which the handful of Turkish troops beat the retreat at 
sunset, and to notice the air of importance with which, 
accompanied by his staff, the Pasha rode round the 
camp, and exacted of the faithful the given number of 
cheers, which they forthwith raised with great apparent 
earnestness, in due recognition of the symbol of their 
great master. Every Magyar was, after that hour, 
required to remain within his tent until break of day. 
Some excesses were committed by the Turkish troops 
upon a Hungarian camp-follower, and the commission 
of a certain unnameable crime was attempted on a 
party of Magyars, but the design of the perpetrators 
was discovered, and they received a severe castigation 
from their intended victims. In general, the conduct of 
the Turks towards the unhappy exiles, was characterised 
by the purest kindness and benevolence. 

The day after my arrival, I accompanied General 
Guy on to an interview with Kossuth. We found the 
Governor of Hungary residing in apartments scarcely 
better provided with furniture than our own, which he 
shared with Count Dembinski, his aide-de-camp, his 
young and beautiful wife, and another friend. Kossuth 
received me with his wonted suavity of manner ; and at 
once commenced an animated conversation in English, 
which he speaks fluently, and without any perceptible 
peculiarity of accent. 

My feeble efforts, individually, had been directed 
without ceasing towards the promotion of the cause of 
Hungary. At the same time I was a contributor to 
a journal which had defamed all his actions, and had 



158 PRINCIPAL TOPICS OF CONVERSATION. 

thought proper, in the last article of the struggle, 
to yield to all the base instincts which only the suc- 
cess of his measures had hitherto tended to repress. 
Consequently I was unable to conceal from myself 
the disadvantage under which I laboured in approach- 
ing him. In his allusions to the stigmas heaped upon 
his character, he manifested no expression of acerbity ; 
he knew that Austrian gold, however lavishly squan- 
dered in purchasing ephemeral mendacity, must even- 
tually yield to the overpowering influence of truth. 
Had he not, within the last month, exhibited his 
indifference to the object for which his calumniators 
had sold their souls to blacken him? Had he not, 
when the struggle was over, and no other alternative 
than execution or exile awaited him, romantically 
spurned, and left to the Austrians to inherit the 
treasure he had accumulated for the last hour of need 
at Arad, and was he not then made hourly sensible by 
his countrymen's and his own privations, how vainly 
his unparalleled purity had sufficed to stop the mouth 
of the assassin ? 

Kossuth had by this time shaved off the handsome 
beard by which he is distinguished in the portraits ; 
and misfortune had given an interesting tinge of 
melancholy to his striking countenance, which har- 
monised with the soft melody of his voice. One topic 
broached during the interview I had afterwards cause 
to remember, as it was coincident with an important 
event then in the process of fulfilment. 

It related to the defence of Comorn, which was then 
invested by Haynau. " If you w r ere there, General," 
remarked the Countess Dembinski, addressing herself 
to Guyon ; " we should rely on your holding out for a 
couple of years at least, but as matters at present stand, 



EXCURSIONS WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE CITY. 159 

we have our fears for the issue/' "And were you 
there, Guyon, I too, should be sure of Comorn," said 
Kossuth. Ten days afterwards a Turkish merchant 
brought tidings of its fall, which had happened on the 
self- same day. 

The brief intervals which remained to me of the 
day, after the completion of my correspondence, were 
devoted either to excursions on horseback round the 
walls of the city, or visits to the respective chiefs. 
Fortunately Guyon had succeeded in carrying off the 
larger portion of his valuable stud, and consequently 
a horse was always at my disposal. On these occasions 
we sallied forth in company with a large party of 
equestrians, including the Count and Countess Casimir 
Bathyany, Guyon, Longworth, several Hungarian 
deputies and officers, and a considerable retinae. Close 
at our heels rode a troop of Turkish cavalry, who had 
great difficulty in keeping up with our fleet steeds; 
and when that was the case, they would raise a shout 
of alarm to bring us to a halt. 

The town of Viddin is extensive and populous, but 
though enjoying a considerable commerce, it possesses 
little or nothing of an attractive character, except the 
Genoese fortress, now gradually crumbling into ruin, 
like the Turkish Divan contained within it. A labyrinth 
of streets leading nowhere, and having no relation to 
each other, a crazy bazaar, several mosques, a number 
of khans, large, but incommodious, and which are 
in general kept by Servians, fill up the group of objects 
comprised within the walls. 

In every Turkish town of any size, there is a vapour 
bath, which is maintained principally by subscribers, 
and only indirectly by the community in general. 
The process of shampooing was as yet a novelty to 



160 A TURKISH VAPOUR BATH. 

me ; and the contortions of the limbs, and the friction 
of the skin one there undergoes, together with the 
overpowering heat, I found to be attended with the 
most beneficial result to the system. An amusing 
instance occurred at the close of the operation which 
well illustrated the regardlessness of money which is 
characteristic of all the Hungarians. The usual price 
of a bath to the rich is from three to four piastres, 
equal to eight pence English. Being without change, 
I requested Guy on to pay the trifling amount, and 
when I came to reimburse him, I found he had left 
the princely sum of five francs for each. 

During my stay at Viddin, I had the pleasure of a 
long interview with the lion-hearted Bern. The marshal 
was then a sufferer from infirm health, yet so earnestly 
was he bent on furnishing me with a clear analysis of 
the causes that had conduced to the ruin of Hungarian 
freedom, that he implored me not to let the short inter- 
vals during which his paroxysms of blood-spitting ren- 
dered my absence agreeable, be an impediment to my 
return as soon as they were over. Bern conversed in 
French on this occasion, for, though long resident in 
England, he never acquired the English language with 
sufficient fluency to speak it. Owing to the natural 
impediment in his speech, and his rapid utterance, I 
did not succeed in entirely following him; but the 
observations contained below will embody his principal 
remarks. 

As to the probable issue of the struggle, under other 
and more favourable circumstances, his opinion remained 
unalterable. But for the treason of Gorgey and his 
partisans, said he, we should ultimately have cut off in 
detail both Austrians and Russians. In England you 
hardly appreciate the immeasurable and priceless advan- 



CONVERSATION WITH MARSHAL* BEM. 161 

tages Hungary possesses over every other country in 
Europe for defensive operations. I blame not Kossuth 
but our fortune, which prevented our occupying the 
passes of Gallicia and Transylvania at the outset, and 
thereby gaining a breathing time for the organisation of 
our plans, whether political or military. 

The passions evoked by the revolution were still in 
process of fermentation when we were called upon to 
expel the Austrians, drive back the Russians, subdue 
the Serbs, punish the Romanen, keep a vigilant eye on 
many of our magnates, and thwart the intrigues of 
Gorgey. Now observe what might have been our two 
rallying points, two I say, though the last would be 
deemed a forlorn hope in any but a death struggle. 

The first and most important I may recapitulate as 
the exclusion for a time, at least, of the Russians by 
closing and fortifying the passes. At the time they 
effected an entrance into the country, we had as good 
as expelled the Austrians. We should thus have had 
to confine ourselves to the Ban, the Serbs, and Walla- 
chians, and our internal organisation. By a rapid march 
with our disengaged forces into Croatia, we should have 
effected a junction with the Liberal party in that coun- 
try, which longed for our approach to declare itself. 
The Ban must either have been annihilated, or driven 
across the Turkish territory and disarmed. That expe- 
dition would have given us possession of the Littorale. 
Thence we could have imported arms and ammunition 
in any number and quantity. The Sardinian fleet would 
have kept open for us the sea. Simultaneously we might 
have crushed the Serbs, and Romanen, and incorporated 
the flower of their youth into the force reunited in Croatia. 
Meanwhile, our time would have been employed at the 
seat of government in recruiting the finances, re-estab- 



162 HIS THEORY AS TO THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 

listing order, collecting arms, ammunition, and the 
material for our artillery, exercising our recruits, en- 
couraging our people, and developing our plans for the 
future campaign. 

I firmly believe the Russians would not have ventured 
to enter our territory on the Austrian side at so late a 
period of the season in the face of our fortress at Comorn. 
But even if they had, I have no hesitation in declaring 
that they must have re-entered the Austrian territory 
to winter. "What might not have occurred in the inter- 
val? The ashes of the volcano which had appalled 
Europe were still smouldering. Might not our attitude 
have sustained the fire still alive in some localities, and 
given fresh vitality to the embers expiring in others. 

Even supposing England and France had turned a 
deaf ear to our appeal, made under circumstances so 
favourable both for the maintenance of the liberty we 
had won and their own political interests, should we not 
still have paralysed the action of despotism in Germany, 
and kept open for ourselves a source of diversion that 
would have militated against the free and uncontrolled 
disposition of her own resources on the part of Austria ? 
Had we no reason to expect a rising in Poland, which 
would have placed the Russians between two fires, and 
opened for us a march on Vienna itself? 

But, supposing our expectations from these quarters 
had been falsified one after another by the results, we 
should, in that case, have had Russians and Austrians 
to contend against early in the spring of 1850. Comorn 
we should have already provisioned for an indefinite 
period ; and, from its ability to contain an army within 
its walls, it would have required a two-fold force on the 
part of the enemy to keep its garrison in check, and 
maintain open the communications. Peterwardein and 



VIEWED UNDER TWO HYPOTHESES. 163 

the Eastern fortresses would each have absorbed so 
many armies of invaders, or, in the event of their 
having been left unmolested, would each have operated 
by diversions in our favour. 

Ere things had arrived at that pass, we should have 
withdrawn the force employed in defending the passes 
of Gallicia, and retained only the means of exit in case 
of reverse by Wallachia. Pesth being indefensible, we 
should have abandoned it by the month of June. I 
will suppose, at the most, two engagements to have 
taken place before this period, in one or both of which 
we should have experienced defeat, opposed as we were 
to such fearful odds, and with the power the enemy had 
to recruit his force for some time, at least, from his 
reserve. 

It would have been the middle of July thetf before 
they could have effected the passage of the Theiss. 
There the disparity of force would commence to hamper 
rather than assist them. We should have been sta- 
tioned, on the contrary, in the heart of the Magyar 
territory, where the life-blood of the nation was concen- 
trated. There we should have had no cause for alarm. 
Their embarrassments would have daily increased, our 
opportunities for turning them to our purpose even more 
so. The marsh fever, which commences in July, would 
have begun to decimate their forces. An increasing 
portion of their effective would have been necessarily 
withdrawn for their protection and the transport of 
provisions. 

From that moment the crisis would have developed 
itself day by day, and the hour of our opportunity 
would have arrived. Our policy behind the Theiss was 
not to hazard a battle. An engagement would gnly 
have precipitated a catastrophe. A series of defensive 



164 BOTH OF WHICH GORGEY RENDERED IMPRACTICABLE, 

positions, such as our assailants could only carry at 
enormous loss to themselves without any corresponding 
sacrifice on our part, was the key to our salvation. A 
firm, energetic, and uniform military administration, 
concentrated in so far as concerned the executive depart- 
ment in the hands of one man, would have accomplished 
this and even more for Hungary. 

The division of authority, and the uncertainty of its 
tenure paralysed the most devoted efforts of our army. 
Such would not have been the case in England, France, 
or Prussia. 

My hypothesis, which took for its base at the outset 
the defence of the passes by which an ingress into the 
country can be speedily effected, has thus far analysed 
the prospects of the enemy, and our own. Let us, 
however, suppose that, in spite of all the various con- 
tingencies which I have enumerated, the line of the 
Theiss had been forced by their united armies, a retreat 
would still have been open to us into Transylavania. 

The remarks I just offered in relation to the defensible 
nature of the line of the Theiss, if you but shift the 
scene from the morass to the mountain, apply with two- 
fold force to Transylvania. There we could have held 
out for two years for certain; and for an indefinite 
period could we have obtained supplies. Meanwhile, 
what would have been the position of the enemy in 
Eastern Hungary ? Truly, a most deplorable one ! 
Under favorable circumstances, then, we should have 
descended from thence, and driven them out of 
the country. 

Thus far extends my theory as to the measures of 
defence that ought to have been taken, and the success 
that would have followed their judicious application. It 
was due to myself to impart it to you. The neglect of 



BY PREVIOUSLY DISORGANISING THE ARMY, 165 

the conditions on which it depended for its happy deve- 
lopment, had its origin in many nntoward circumstances. 
Austria was the immediate foe we had to repel. We 
dared not look into the future. Nobody took a suffi- 
ciently expansive view of the eventual field of action. 
When Russia entered, she pounced down upon us at 
either point with an overpowering force, unresisted, 
because scarcely expected. 

My second hypothesis is little more than a corollary 
of the first. It is confined in its application to a limited 
period of time, and an equally narrow field. It refers 
to my own and Gorgey's movements in July last. You 
will perceive my theory, so far from renouncing the 
prospect of success at that critical moment, augurs it 
as assuredly resulting from any consentaneity in our 
respective views, and the union of the command in the 
hands of a single person, so essential to a successful 
combination of strategetical operations. It is so far to 
the point, that it is based upon the actual, not upon 
what ought to have been, the state of affairs. You well 
know that the Russians were perishing by hundreds 
from exposure to the miasma reeking from the marshes 
of the* Theiss. Had Gorgey contented himself with 
simply manoeuvering on the ample field Eastern Hun- 
gary offered for such prudential tactics, while I was 
busied in checking the progress of the Russians in 
Transylvania, instead of running on bootless expeditions 
and playing into the enemy's hands, and decimating, 
dispiriting, and finally betraying his army, the very 
maintenance of which, in its then state of disorganiza- 
tion, he had rendered impossible, he could have held his 
ground, and finally, with my co-operation, have van- 
quished the combined armies of the enemy. 

The worst feature of a disorganization, such as his 



166 bem's ostensible conversion. 

treachery had consummated, is its infectious character. 
Had he been merely unfortunate, we might, after all, 
have repaired our reverses in a fortnight. It was the 
treachery which induced the army to despair of their 
country, and rely no longer on their leaders, that ren- 
dered the position which I should have been otherwise 
able to maintain in Transylvania, so weak as eventually 
to be untenable. 

I must repeat, Sir, the issue of this war appears to 
me in no degree to vitiate the soundness of the princi- 
ples which I have expounded to you as those proper to 
have been adopted, and such as would have been adop- 
ted, had my influence been able to surmount the 
passions and intrigues of the party that found even in a 
war to the death itself, the period for intestine broils. 

The above is merely the purport of the remarks 
which fell from the distinguished hero on this occasion. 
To me they appear unanswerable ; and of the GeneraF s 
belief in the possibility of putting them into a practical 
shape, I can adduce no stronger proof than his earnest 
and oft-repeated efforts to keep his army together, even 
when the defection of Gorgey had rendered further 
resistance apparently hopeless. 

The ostensible conversion of Bern to the Mahom- 
medan faith, tended to incur for him an odium both 
among his companions -in-arms and his admirers in 
England, which the sincerity of his character little 
merited. It was true he entertained no very decided 
belief in Christianity as a system of revelation, and 
for want of orthodoxy he may be censured ; but look- 
ing at him as a man and general, was it not his fervent 
impetuosity of character that led him nominally to 
embrace the religion which was not calculated merely 
to save himself, for no man cared less for his personal 



SINCERITY OF HIS CHARACTER DEMBINSKI. 167 

safety, but to impart to him an influence over a people 
whom he hoped to rouse by his exertions against his 
own and their eternal enemy ? Well might he ejaculate, 
H My religion is my country I" From his heart he 
spoke it. 

On another occasion I visited Dembinski and Mes- 
zaros. The former recalled to my mind the portrait 
of Louis Philippe, whom he equally resembled in man- 
ner and bonhornmie. The mind of Meszaros was com- 
pletely prostrated by the suddeness of the late disaster. 
I elicited little of novelty from either, and nothing 
sufficiently striking to be placed on record. Both 
seemed unanimous in ascribing the failure of the 
struggle, not so much to the overwhelming force 
brought into the field by the enemy as to the intestine 
disunion, that marred their fairest and most sagaciously 
devised projects. 

Among the distinguished persons whom the fortune 
of war had exiled from his adopted home, the most 
conspicuous by his rank, high sense of honor and intel- 
ligence, was the Count Zamoitzki, a Polish noble, the 
alleged heir of the Czartorysky family : he was accus- 
tomed to speak in disparaging terms of Kossuth, to 
whose vacillation he attributed the disgust entertained 
by Dembinski, Bern and Gorgey, as each was respectively 
placed above or below each other to suit the popular 
caprice. Zamoitski was attached to a clique among 
the exiles, which ranged itself on the side of Dembinski 
against all comers. It seemed to be generally agreed that 
none was better fitted than the old general for handling 
large masses of men, and such, perhaps, was the case ; 
for he had served with distinction under Napoleon, and 
thence had acquired experience in the highest range of 
military science. 



168 MESZAROS — ZAMOITZKI — PERCZEL. 

Casimir Batthyany, indeed, attributed the late re- 
verses, in a great measure, to the combination of such 
large armies in the hands of men, who, however brave 
and heroic they might be, were inexperienced in the 
conduct of military evolutions on so large a scale. 
Zamoitski was always ready to fly to the assistance of 
his country ; to serve her he had served Hungary, and 
had lost a finger in a cavalry charge. Of the other 
leading exiles I saw little. Perczel was a partizan 
leader, remarkable neither for success nor military 
skill, but not the less brave. Stein, like Bern, had em- 
braced Islamism, and had been created a Pasha. 

General Guy on, being on the point of changing his 
quarters for a more suitable, though smaller, residence, 
just previous to my departure, I returned to the khan 
where I had been originally offered accommodation, and 
took possession of a small apartment then vacant. 

Opposite me were two young officers, the one a 
Servian, the other of German extraction, who busied 
themselves in endeavouring to render my abode as 
comfortable as possible, and placed their own servant at 
my disposal. I am grieved to say, that a subsequent 
visit to Constantinople served to place the latter in a 
very different position in my estimation. The Austrians 
had tampered already with the honour of several Poles, 
and at Schumla, from all accounts, this person was 
detected in some illicit communication with their agents, 
which called down upon him the vengeance of his 
countrymen, by a severe, but justly merited punishment. 
I understood he was afterwards promoted to the post 
of attache to the Austrian Embassy, at Constantinople, 
for his services. 

Under the pretext of furnishing me with letters of 
recommendation to persons at Belgrade, I was honoured 



ENGLISH AND BELGIAN SWINDLERS. 169 

with a visit by several of tbese miscreants ; one was an 
Englishman, another a Belgian, who pretended that he 
had escaped from the Austrian service. Both were 
swindlers ; and, while the former engaged me in con- 
versation, I detected the latter conning over a portion 
of my correspondence, and summarily ejected him. 
During my stay in Athens, on a later occasion, I learnt 
from a Magyar there, that the latter personage had been 
traced to that place by a Greek whom he had defrauded 
at Semlin, and was then undergoing imprisonment for 
his crime. I believe they had previously followed the 
exiles to Schumla and Constantinople, in the same 
manner as the carrion crow, in India, haunts the track 
of the wayfarer, to satiate its horrid instincts. All 
this time, the chiefs of the emigration were hourly in 
expectation of being handed over to the tender mercies 
of their savage and relentless enemy, nor could the 
agitation and fanatical enthusiasm which was kindled 
among the Moslem population, at the bare rumour of a 
war with the Muscovite, nor the energetic intervention 
of Sir Stratford Canning in their behalf, wholly quiet 
their apprehensions. 

Austria having assumed the part of a jackall to the 
Czar, in the negotiations relative to the disposal of the 
exiles, it was supposed that the force she had been 
recently concentrating at Pancsova, was intended for a 
sudden dash upon Belgrade. I was, therefore, anxious 
to proceed to that place to become a spectator of 
events. 

The great difficulty at that period, was to procure 
anything in the shape of conveyance. Great numbers 
of Hungarian, Bosnian, and even English horses, which 
had been employed in the war, were offered for sale by 
the Magyars, at a price greatly below their value ; and 



170 DETERMINE TO PROCEED TO BELGRADE. 

I was just on the point of concluding a bargain for one 
of these animals, when I was deterred by the announce- 
ment that the Turks would not permit their removal. 
The Pasha had interposed this difficulty, in order to 
buy them up at his own price, and re-sell them to the 
Turkish government at treble the rate. He had taken 
a fancy to an English horse, worth £100, belonging to 
one of the Baloghs, a Magyar officer, and had offered 
£5 for the same. Some of his retainers had insinuated 
that he would resort to a compulsory purchase at his own 
price, upon which, Balogh, when ordered to exhibit the 
animal before his Highness, had taken the precaution 
of carrying a loaded pistol in his pocket, with the 
full intention of shooting it on the spot, in case 
recourse should be had to coercion. 

To reach Belgrade by the Danube, was likely 
to be attended with peril; for the agent of the 
Danube Steam Navigation Company was also Austrian 
Consul : he had already set his spies to note my going 
out and my coming in; and the same steamer that 
carried me to Semlin would have, undoubtedly, carried 
a description of my person and vocation. Already he 
had been made aware of my anxiety to depart, and 
had sent a person to intimate that, a gentleman, con- 
versant with English, from having served for some 
years on board the British fleet, was desirous of facili- 
tating my arrangements. I followed the messenger, 
and, to my surprise, was ushered into the Austrian 
Consulate. 

The Consul was a Dalmatian, of a hale, yet vener- 
able aspect; his address was polite beyond measure; 
and he recommended me, of course, to take the next 
steamer, to which I, for the moment, appeared to assent. 
While we were engaged in conversation, one of his spies, 
a Jew, came in to report the proceedings of the preceding 



THE AUSTRIAN CONSUL AT VIDDIN. 171 

day. To do him justice, the Consul appeared rather 
ashamed of his associate in iniquity, and inquired if I 
was conversant with the German language. As my 
acquaintance with it was limited to a few words essen- 
tial to procure the necessaries of life, and transact a 
matter of ordinary business, I replied in the negative, 
and thereby gained an unexpected insight into the 
kennels of Austrian filth. The report of the spy would 
have done credit to any area-sneak or denizen of the 
rookery. It related chiefly to the surveillance of 
Casimir Batthyany, whom they suspected of meditating 
an escape; and their objects comprised — the tamper- 
ing with his domestics, in order to become acquainted 
with the company that frequented his house, the over- 
hauling his correspondence, and dogging his move- 
ments. 

Quitting the place in disgust, I resolved to outwit 
the Consul, by departing that very afternoon, on foot, 
for the Servian frontier. With that view, I divided my 
scanty baggage in two parts, and leaving my capote 
and the heavier portion in charge of the Servian khanaje y 
I prepared to start with a small carpet-bag. The autho- 
rities were indisposed to yield so ready a compliance, as 
the urgency of the case required ; and it was necessary 
to assume the greatest indignation, and to threaten a 
reference to the Pasha, to procure the requisite vise 
to my passport. The passport, which I had obtained 
at Munich, after my expulsion from Austria, I gave 
to one of my Servian friends, who hoped to effect his 
release therewith by a stratagem that had suggested 
itself to him. 

The very same day that I quitted Viddin, Guyon 
and Long worth took their departure also for Constanti- 
nople, having been reclaimed as British subjects by 
Sir Stratford Canning. 



172 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fate of the Majority of the Exiles. — Difficulty in gaining the Ser- 
vian Frontier. — Eagovitz and its Quarantine Establishment. — 
Negotin. — A Eailway in Servia. — Eocks of Trajan. — Milano- 
vitsch. — Frightful Conflagration. — Passarovitz. — Signs of Pro- 
gress in Servia. — Semendria, and the Scenery of the Vicinity. — 
Belgrade. — Its important mercantile and strategical Position. 
Servian Eelations with Eussia. — Eesort to Stratagem to obtain 
the Endorsement of my Passport by the Austrian Autho- 
rities. — Succeed in the Attempt, and take up my Quarters at 
Semlin. — Squalor and Disregard to Cleanliness manifested by 
the Sclave Eaces wherever found. — Description of Semlin.- 
Embark in one of the Danube Steamers forPesth. — Forbidding 
Aspect of the Country. — Navigation of the Danube. — Carlo- 
vitz. — Peterwardein. — Esseg. — Mohacs. — A Female Soldier. — 
Pesth. — Destructive Effects of the late Bombardment. — Execu- 
tion of Louis Batthyani. — Austrian Infamy. — Treatment of the 
Honveds by Haynau. — Interposition of the Author in their 
Favour. — Danger of his being arrested at Pesth. — The Aus- 
trians and Wallachs in Transylvania. — Urban. — Austrian 
Officers at Pesth. — The Jews. — Gypsies of Hungary. — Charac- 
teristics of the Magyars. — Position of England in reference to 
Hungary. — Probable Consequences of an English Intervention. 
— An Anecdote of Eussian Officers. — Admirable Site of Pesth 
as a Great Capital. — City of Gran. — Comorn, its Fortress, and 
its Euins. — Gonyo and Eaab. — A Danube Fog.— Presburgh. — 
A Sclavonian Free Corps. — False Position of English Officers 
in the Austrian Service. — Digby's Fate. — Being anxious to 
ascertain whether or no my Correspondence is intercepted by 
the Austrians, I proceed to Vienna for that Purpose, with the 
intention of returniug to Presburgh the same Evening. — How 



FATE OF THE HUNGARIAN EXILES. 173 

prevented. — A Week of Misery, terminating in a Second Im- 
prisonment. — My Treatment under Durance. — Veracity of an 
Austrian Commissioner of Police. — I am sent down under 
Guard to Trieste. — My Money is seized, and I am left to find 
my way to Corfu as I can. — I am providentially assisted in 
the Emergency. 

The fate of the exiles was not long destined to remain 
in suspense. 

Before the expiration of a month, General Hauslab 
was commissioned to offer, on the part of the Austrian 
Government, an amnesty to all the common soldiers and 
a large proportion of the officers ; and, though the most 
strenuous efforts were made by Kossuth, Guyon, and 
Perczel to dissuade them from accepting it, the men 
were very naturally incapable of resisting the temptation 
so unexpectedly offered of closing an exile, in which 
death was sooner or later foreshadowed. 

Of course the stipulations of the amnesty were rigidly 
observed. There is something sacred and irrevocable in 
Austrian faith, once plighted, albeit an ignorant world 
may sneer, and deem it of a Punic order. No sooner 
had the unhappy men reached Semlin, than, in face of 
the pledge of an unconditional release, they were incor- 
porated with Austrian regiments, and, previously to 
their being drafted for service, they were left to starve 
for a month at that dismal swamp, in the rags and 
tatters of exile. I am persuaded that, out of the 
whole battalion I subsequently inspected at Semlin, no 
British actuary would have consented to insure the life 
of a tenth part for five years. What has since become 
of these ill-fated men, I know not ; but of the treatment 
of their brethren who had capitulated under Gorgey, I 
shall have a word or two to say by-and-bye. 

Little expecting that I should experience any difficulty 



174 ROUTE TO THE SERVIAN FRONTIER. 

in making my way to the frontier, I had purposely 
Omitted to hire a guide to accompany me. I had already 
traversed the plain of the Danube for miles, and the 
mountains of Servia appeared close at hand, when twi- 
light approached, and fires began to blaze in the direction 
towards which I was approaching. 

The course of the Danube, as it approximates to 
Viddin, assumes to itself the form of an obtuse angle, in 
relation to which Viddin itself stood as the apex, and 
my road as the base. As soon, however, as I came upon 
the other angle, I was surprised to find that the fires, 
which had hitherto served as so many beacons to illu- 
minate my path, appeared to become more remote than 
ever, and so far from serving to point out the line of the 
Servian frontier, that they were really situated in Wal- 
lachia, on the other side of the river. 

I had been several times already subjected to a close 
scrutiny, on my route across the plain. Perhaps, I had 
been taken for a Magyar fugitive ; I was loth, therefore, 
to enter the villages, unless compelled by necessity. 
The dogs were a constant source of annoyance. To 
repel their attacks distracted my attention from the 
tracks, which intersected each other in every direction. 

On reaching the banks of the river I came upon 
Florentin, a considerable town, and of some commercial 
importance. I conceived, therefore, that the road upon 
which I now struck must be that leading to the frontier. 
The night had now become so dark, that it was impos- 
sible to pursue my course ; I accordingly took shelter 
under a cleft in the bank, and contrived, in spite of the 
severe cold, to snatch an hour's repose. At the expira- 
tion of that period, I pursued my course along the river : 
unluckily, however, I eventually lost my road, and, 
conceiving that it must be more inland, took that direc- 



QUARANTINE AT RAGOVITZ. 175 

tion, and entered a Bulgarian village. The dogs kept up 
so constant an uproar, that even if I had understood the 
language, it would have been impossible to catch a word 
of the explanation that was furnished me by a woman, 
employed at that early hour in cooking the morning's 
meal. 

Notwithstanding, I finally succeeded in striking on a 
new path leading to a another village, and trending in 
the promised direction; and ten minutes' walk, brought 
me to the Timok, the quarantine barrier. There I 
was hailed by the sentinel on duty, and apprized that I 
must return to the Bulgarian village from whence I had 
just come, and there obtain permission to pass. To 
that end I was sent back with a guardian. We found 
the Servian functionary already at his post ; he was a 
person of obliging deportment. Not so one of his sub- 
ordinates, a savage, scowling Turk, who followed and 
attempted to bully me out of a gratuity for himself. 

After a short detention at an outpost on the opposite 
side of the Timok, we arrived at the quarantine station, 
passing on our way an English ship in full sail up the 
Danube. Bagovitz offered less of comfort, if possible, 
than Alexinitza or the place in which I had been sub- 
sequently detained, and the charges were still higher. I 
was not sorry, therefore, to learn that my detention 
would terminate on the following morning. 

Nevertheless, no sooner had I been liberated from 
durance indoors, than I found I should be under the 
necessity of accompanying a guardian to Negotin, a 
town six miles up into the interior, for the purpose of 
procuring a final discharge from my parole. There the 
authorities appeared to regard the loss of a day to a 
traveller, like myself, as a matter of merely secondary 
importance, and it was not until the evening that I 



176 VIEW OVER THE PLAINS OF WALLACHIA. 

procured the requisite permission to proceed. I was, 
therefore, compelled to pass the night at the khan. 

At Negotin I met with the magistrate who had ac- 
companied me on my former passage through Servia, 
together with a Bohemian engineer, who was then 
engaged in surveying a line of railway to Milanovitsch, a 
small but important town on the Servian bank of the 
Danube. Though the place at which I thus took up 
my quarters was small, it was, as to its exterior, like 
all Servian towns, very clean and pretty. A number of 
private houses were then in process of construction after 
the German style, and in tolerably correct taste. 

The next morning I resumed the march by a road 
skirting the bank of the Danube. From thence could 
be commanded a splendid view of the plain of Wallachia, 
extending inland as far as the eye could fathom to the 
northernmost range of hills which merge into the 
mountains of Transylvania. At every half-mile on the 
Wallachian bank were placed watchmen to prevent 
smuggling or an unauthorised passage of the river. 

In the evening I put up at a khan in a large village 
on the road ; and in a short time was joined by my 
Bohemian friend who assisted me in procuring the best 
of everything the place afforded. And here we bade 
adieu to the great Danube level, and entered on a moun- 
tain district of old, the theatre of the triumphs of the 
Boman engineer. 

In consequence of his being pledged to keep an ap- 
pointment in a remote locality on the following day, 
my friend kindly proposed that I should take a seat 
along with his son in his own vehicle to Milanovitsch, 
to which place he proposed to return and meet us in the 
evening. I gladly accepted the offer. 

Our course lay, for three-fourths of the distance, 



-MILANOVITSCH. 1 77 

through a primaeval mountain-forest, not the slightest 
trace of cultivation or even of the presence of man being 
discernible, except where we overtook the rude and 
creaking bullock-wains laden with maize intended for 
market. How the animals contrived to climb some of 
the toilsome steeps, which diversified the face of the 
country during this day's journey, was to me a marvel. 
Notwithstanding the increased facilities of transit which 
the progress of civilisation has imparted to the country, 
the means of transport are still greatly out of proportion, 
both from the labour they occasion and the ratio they 
bear to the original cost of the production of the article 
so conveyed. 

As soon, however, as we had reached within three 
miles of Milanovitsch, one of those incomparable pro- 
digies of Nature's handy work, only to be found scattered 
here and there, like gems on the earth's surface, lay in 
all its grandeur before us. Our position was an admi- 
rable one for catching at a glance the whole coup (Tail 
of congregated sublimity. Three miles distant lay the 
town of Milanovitsch, embosomed amidst shady groves, 
from which its white houses and beautiful Greek church 
rose out in beautiful relief. 

Traversing the gorge between the giant mountains, 
rolled the mighty and here impetuous Danube, shut up 
into a lake-like reach by a rectangular curve, which 
was perceptible in the distance. A passing steamer and 
numerous craft, gliding rapidly on the current, gave 
life and animation to the picture. Above, on the Hun- 
garian side, heaped up in wild confusion, rose gigantic 
masses of rock, the crests of which were elevated three 
thousand feet above the river. On our side the moun- 
tain wall rose to a still loftier altitude, the strata, by the 
aid of a mellow autumn sun, exhibiting the most varied 

i2 



178 ARBITRARY CONDUCT OF A KHAFFKHANAJE. 

profusion of colouring. At the foot of the mountain, 
and level with the river, ran stripes of the freshest 
verdure, contrasting beautifully with the stern and 
savage grandeur of the frowning rocks of Trajan above. 
On the other bank stood a number of ruined castles ; 
on ours rolled a winding river, rising in the far interior, 
and debouching through a fearful gorge, overtopped by 
giant oaks and beeches, into the eddying current of the 
Danube. We descended from our lofty throne by a 
romantic pass, which is now converted into an excellent 
road, and were soon proceeding along the level track 
skirting the southern bank of the river. 

On arriving at Milanovitsch, we alighted at the door 
of the principal khan. Like most of the khans in 
Servia, it was a KafFkhan. We naturally expected that 
refreshment would be immediately provided ; but such 
is the remorseless tenacity with which the hosts adhere 
to established usage in reference to the hours of meals, 
that, hungry as we were, we could not obtain anything 
to allay the cravings of the appetite until the evening. 

Next morning I hired a man and pair of horses, to 
take me to a station half way to Passarovitz. Our 
route lay by the side of the Danube until we arrived at 
the angle already referred to, when we left the river to 
pursue its course to the north, and re-entered the forest. 
Ere long we began to ascend mountains of a similar 
character to those we had traversed the day before, 
alternating every now and then with glens, in like man- 
ner overrun with aboriginal forest, which produces the 
most magnificent specimens of timber, and gives suste- 
nance to innumerable herds of swine. Through the 
glens and clefts of the ravine meandered a stream called 
the Bek, which we crossed at least twenty times during 
the day. 



SYLVAN SCENERY OF SERVIA. 179 

For sylvan scenery, Servia is, perhaps, without a 
rival in Europe. Nature is there to be beheld under 
the same aspect she has worn from time immemorial. 
There, in her unadornment, she possesses more of love- 
liness than all the landscapes which art has applied 
itself to delineate. For so mountainous and impracti- 
cable a country, the roads in Servia are in general 
excellent ; and, in proportion as they increase in extent, 
so will strangers flock to survey the natural beauties of 
the land. 

In one of the glens, we found the whole inhabitants 
of a village encamped under rude tents, along the 
brink of the stream, having just previously been burnt 
out of house and home, by a conflagration that human 
efforts had been unavailing to arrest. A similar accident 
occurred, about the same time, in a contiguous village, 
which we had occasion to pass through on the following 
day. Until their dwellings could be re-constructed, 
the people were served with rations at the expence of 
the government. Their rude huts, in the composition 
of which timber figured as the only material, are now 
being superseded by more desirable, and less ignitable 
edifices, offering diminished facilities to the unchecked 
progress of these devastating inflictions. 

The valley, at length, expanded into a richly culti- 
vated plain, planted in parts with artificial grasses, 
yielding abundant crops. At its termination, we found 
ourselves at our journey's end, but without any feeling 
of satisfaction upon our surveying the den in which it 
was to be our lot to rest for the night. We succeeded, 
however, in procuring some cheese and black bread, 
and then retired to rest. Even at this wretched village, 
signs of progress were perceptible. A stately mansion 
was being erected for the local commissioner of police, 



180 ARRIVAL AT PASSAROVITZ. 

and another was in contemplation for the priest of the 
village. 

Not being able to procure any horses until the post 
should arrive, and exercise its priority of choice, it was 
nearly mid-day before we pursued our route for Passa- 
rovitz. The saddle furnished me was so hard, and, at 
the same time, so unsuited to the back of the animal 
I rode, that it jolted to one side every quarter of an 
hour, and prevented our making rapid way. To make 
the matter worse, the guide was a selfish, surly churl, 
who affected ignorance of all the expressive pantomime 
I adopted to indicate the inconvenience. 

The country, as before, was diversified by mountain, 
glen, and valley ; the two former were clad, as usual, 
with forest, but the latter was, in general, cultivated. 
The Bek still intersected our course. At length we 
emerged on a vast plain ; and on ascending the downs, 
caught a fine view of the western range of Servia, 
extending to the vicinity of Belgrade, nearly forty 
miles distant. There we baited. After crossing the 
plain, we re-entered the forest just as it became dark. 
The guide, better mounted, was enabled to ride ahead 
of me, and I was near losing him. On emerging from 
the forest, we ascended a lofty range of hills, covered 
with heath; on their summits, a village or two was 
scattered, and below, in the distance, were reflected the 
lights of the important town of Passarovitz. The 
guide either would not, or could not, lead me by the 
high road, and it was with the greatest difficulty we 
avoided the dangerous pits which skirted it. Upon 
entering the town, I was soon conducted to the khan, or, 
as I should now say, hotel, where tolerable accommo- 
dation was provided, and, what I considered truly regal 
fare, after the privations I had of late undergone. A 



SPARSE POPULATION OF SERVIA. 181 

bed, or even a straw mattrass, was still esteemed a 
superfluity in the best of Servian houses, and I was fain, 
even here, to put up with a mat, and to dispense with 
other articles which we are apt to regard of the first 
necessity. Next morning I was anxious to start for 
Semendria immediately after breakfast; not so the 
khanaje, to whom I had consigned my passport, with 
the view of securing the requisite endorsement. He 
was desirous of detaining me to discuss a dinner for his 
benefit. After much trouble, I discovered my worthy 
host, and remonstrating with him for his' negligence, 
went in person to secure my object, and started in the 
afternoon for my destination. 

In passing through the streets of the town, I wit- 
nessed a marriage procession, preceded by a squeaking 
pipe and two stunning drums, which at once set the 
whole place on the qui vive, and attracted a crowd of 
quidnuncs. It differed, however, in no essential par- 
ticulars from the same ceremony as practised in other 
countries, where the rites of the Greek Church prevail. 

Passarovitz itself, is situate on the wide and fertile 
valley of the Morava. Three miles outside the town 
the forest re-commences, and continues up to the 
eastern bank of the river. Its giant oaks yield an 
abundant and nutritious food at this season to immense 
herds of swine* 

Servia is, perhaps the least densely peopled of any 
European State — indeed, infinitely less so than many 
parts of America — and so complete is the notion of 
loneliness, that it requires no great exertion of the fancy 
to picture oneself carried by some wand of the en- 
chanter into a backwoods' settlement. Nearly a century 
ago, a portion of Servia was colonised by a number of 
Germans. They did not, however, long retain their 



182 A GERMAN COLONY — SEMENDRIA, 

national character; and a fusion with the Servians 
having rapidly ensued, the only trace of the immigra- 
tion now remaining, is the employment of the German 
language by the better educated of the emigrants. 

Crossing over the deep and rapid Morava by a ferry 
boat, we continued, for the remainder of the journey, 
along the fertile plain, passing on our route several 
large villages, until we arrived in sight of Semendria 
itself, and once more struck on the banks of the 
Danube. 

Semendria, famous for its castle, which boasts an in- 
numerable array of massive towers, stands renowned in 
Turkish story. It is now a thriving and populous town ; 
yet, in days gone by, it has felt, perhaps, more than any 
other in Servia, the desolating influence of the Imperial 
and Turkish wars. On the river's brink stands an 
extensive Kaffkhan, greatly frequented for gaming 
purposes. Every part of it was crowded at the time of 
my arrival, and it was with difficulty that space could 
be found for the repast I was but too ready to discuss. 
The prices in this, as at all the other khans in Servia, I 
found considerably enhanced, in comparison with the 
charges prevailing in Bulgaria. In general, however, 
these establishments are tolerably well regulated. Like 
all the hostelries of the same class in the East, a tariff 
of charges, which is strictly obligatory, is affixed to the 
door. To this the hosts adhere in their dealings with 
their countrymen ; but, in the case of a stranger, they 
are frequently departed from. 

The traffic, which has sprung up on the river since 
the introduction of steamers, is very considerable, and 
is still on the increase. Both of the companies plying 
on the river touch at Semendria. An Austrian steam- 
tug, propelling a long train of barges, laden with 



AND ITS VICINITY BELGRADE. 183 

military stores for Orsova and the Lower Danube, passed 
while I was at dinner, and served to increase the 
satisfaction I felt in having regained a civilised region. 

The vicinity of Semendria possesses many attractive 
features. The hills are planted with the vine. The 
river is there prolonged into a noble reach ; on either 
side its surface is dotted with countless islets clad with 
the freshest verdure. Around may be seen the count- 
less floats of the fishermen, basking, like so many lotus 
leaves, on the placid stream. The southern bank is 
cultivated wherever the soil will permit; and, on the 
opposite side, the eye wanders over the vast plains of 
the Banat, covered with herds of cattle. 

My long walk having failed thus far to inconvenience 
me, I resolved to proceed to Belgrade on foot that very 
evening. An excellent road traverses the forest, and 
relieved me from any apprehension of losing my way. 
Late in the evening, I took up my quarters at a kaff- 
khan at a post town, half way between Semendria 
and Belgrade, and proceeded next morning through 
rich and undulating, but still little cultivated country, 
to the latter place. As it approaches Belgrade, the 
road winds round the hills after a very circuitous 
fashion, until it descends into the plain from whence 
the rival cities of Belgrade and Semlin are distinctly 
visible. The first is rendered conspicuous by the lofty 
minarets of its mosques ; the last, by its Greek and 
Roman churches. 

Belgrade occupies one of the finest and most com- 
manding sites, both as a commercial capital and a stra- 
tegical position, of any city in Europe. Situate at the 
angle of the Servian frontier, just where it abuts upon 
the Austrian territory, at the very point of the con- 
fluence of the Danube and the Save, it would, in other 



184 FACILITIES FOR COMMERCIAL ENTERPRIZE. 

hands and under happier auspices, not only effectually 
command the navigation of the Lower Danube, but 
infallibly become the emporium of the surrounding 
regions. 

Ship-building admits of being carried on to any ex- 
tent: the largest stores of the finest timber are procurable 
with the smallest delay, and at the most trifling cost, 
and the shelving beach of the Save facilitates the con- 
struction of slips. By the Upper Danube Belgrade can 
transmit the raw produce of Servia and Bosnia to 
the whole of Hungary, Sclavonia, and Southern Ger- 
many. By the Save she possesses a river-navigation of 
350 miles, as far as Laybach and Carlstadt. But for 
Austrian exclusiveness, the Theiss, moreover, would open 
to her the whole interior of Hungary left untraversed 
by the Danube. The Lower Danube offers her the 
commerce of Wallachia, Bulgaria, and the countries 
washed by the Black Sea ; and the Morava the inland 
navigation of Servia. Yet, in the present stage of their 
growth, the Servians do not manifest, as a nation, any 
partiality for commercial speculation. 

Essentially engaged in agricultural or pastoral opera- 
tions, or as lumberers in their virgin forests, they have 
neglected all and each of the elements of industry most 
calculated to advance the national wealth and import- 
ance. 

The fortress of Belgrade remains under Turkish 
supremacy. Of Genoese origin, its defences, which were 
formerly considered invulnerable, have become reduced 
to the most insignificant pretensions. Breaches are 
already discoverable in the walls, and the bastions 
scarcely hold together. The few guns yet remaining 
are of small calibre, and are ill pointed. Not being 
placed on traversing carriages, their position can- 



THE TURKISH FORTRESS AND PASHALIC. 185 

not be shifted as occasion may require. "Were, then, 
the present position of the fortress and garrison of 
Belgrade to be taken as a symbol of Turkish vitality, 
I fear the defence of that empire would not be worth 
six months' purchase. A more wretched and decrepid 
body of troops I never beheld. The Osmanli at all 
times possesses little of the bearing of the soldier ; but 
it is Belgrade, one of the most important posts in the 
Ottoman dominions, that seems to have been reserved 
as the receptacle of all the emasculated dotards that 
could be gathered together from the four winds. 

On the Danube-bank, and below the fortress, stand 
the palace of the Pasha and the barracks for the troops, 
capacious and massive edifices, amply provided in every 
respect. The diet of the Turkish soldier is scarcely 
inferior to that of our own. I happened to be present 
when the mid-day rations were distributed. An ample 
mess of savoury mutton stew, a bason of soup, and 
bread and vegetables ad libitum, served to attest that the 
meagre and sorry specimens of humanity before me 
owed little or none of their defective physique to the 
insufficiency or inferior quality of their food. It was 
a curious sight to notice how the dogs bolted out from 
every court and corner of the ruined divan to take 
their turn at the relics of the feast. So many bones of 
contention arose on the instant, and so tumultuous 
became the fray, that I chose the opportunity for 
making my escape. Like their masters, they seldom 
brook the presence of a Giaour without a growl. 

The casual observer, when made acquainted with the 
compact subsisting between the Ottoman government 
and its Servian dependency, will naturally infer that a 
constant conflict of opinion, from time to time, arises 
between their respective governments. Such must 



186 POSITION OP THE PRINCE IN RELATION TO RUSSIA. 

undoubtedly occur in spite of every precaution ; for the 
line of demarcation cannot have been drawn with, such 
nicety as to be applicable to exigencies unforeseen at 
the period when the contract was determined upon. 
Yet the Porte has shrewdly devised a safety-valve for 
contingencies of such a kind, by referring matters 
in dispute to the representatives of the European 
powers. 

Twenty years of independence and tranquillity have, 
undoubtedly, produced great and important results even 
in Servia, results which though scarcely commensurate 
with our expectations, looking at the fertility of the 
country, are still, on the whole, satisfactory. Happily 
Servia is no longer the degraded tool of Russia she once 
was. The people are as much opposed as the prince to 
any blind adherence to the mandates of the Czar. The 
father of the present prince was elevated to power 
through the influence of Russia, still he revolted against 
the attempted exercise of her authority, and was in con- 
sequence dethroned. No sooner did his son begin to 
appreciate his true position, than he too resisted the 
trammels with which she was prepared to enthral 
him. 

The commercial quarter of Belgrade is situate, for 
the most part, within the walls of the fortress. It is 
chiefly comprised within three streets, two of which 
intersect each other, and one of them opens into a square 
in which the markets are held. There are to be found 
the principal houses of the place. The Greek metropo- 
litan church, the two hotels, the University, and most 
of the principal stores and shops serve to adorn the 
other. The third, which contains the offices of the 
principal merchants, runs parallel with the Save. The 
Turkish portion of the town is mean, squalid, and insig- 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. 187 

nificant. Outside the walls, and on the East bank of 
the Save, lies the real Servian city. There are to be 
found the palace of the Prince and the station and 
barracks of the Servian army ; there too are the man- 
sions of the nobility and gentry, and all the public 
offices. Many of these edifices present a very respect- 
able appearance, and such as would not disgrace the 
capital of a second-rate German state. 

The hotel at which I took up my quarters was 
tenanted by a German. It was of colossal dimensions, 
and possessed a splendid exterior ; but the apartments 
were lost in filth and uncleanliness. Moreover, although 
the table was tolerably supplied, the charges, both for 
board and lodging, were uncommonly high. The house 
contained many noble rooms of great height and size. 
The ground-floor was occupied as a cafe ; but the land- 
lord had been ruined by the speculation, and I had 
scarcely resided there two days, ere I was apprised of the 
danger I had incurred of a seizure of my effects by the 
authorised agents of the law. Not being able to procure 
a bed elsewhere in the town, I found it expedient to 
cross the river, and betake myself to Semlin, two miles 
distant, first obtaining, in the absence of the British 
functionary, the vise of the French consul. 

Although the population of the cities of Belgrade and 
Semlin exceeds sixty thousand, the sole means of com- 
munication between them is limited to a few small 
boats ; and even the period of their vocation has been 
circumscribed by the jealousy of the Austrian autho- 
rities within a limited number of hours in the day. 
One evening I chanced to be too late for the last boat, 
when, being unable to procure shelter at Belgrade, I was 
fain to present myself at the Austrian Consulate and 
seek permission to cross the river in the boat belonging 
to that establishment. 



188 SEMLIN MR. FONBLANQUE. 

At this period, several Magyars, who had more or less 
compromised themselves by taking part in the insurrec- 
tion, were lurking in the neighbourhood of Belgrade, in 
order the better to correspond with their Mends, and 
ascertain what might be their probable fate in case they 
should resolve to return to their respective localities. 
The suspicions of the consul were, therefore, naturally 
excited, and induced him to send a clerk to accompany 
me. Thanks to the obscurity of the night, I contrived 
to escape from his surveillance, and betook myself to 
the hotel. 

Semlin possesses three considerable establishments 
for the reception of travellers. Mine was, perhaps, the 
largest and best appointed, but the squalor and inat- 
tention to comfort, or even decency, appeared to form 
the rule as much on this as on the other side of the 
river. The prices, too, were immoderately high. The 
cost of ail the necessaries of life had mounted up, in 
conseqnence of the war, to a degree which left but 
little margin for the existence of the poorer classes; 
and, had it not been for the charities attached to the 
Romish and Greek churches, many of them must have 
perished duing the winter of 1849. 

The City of Semlin owed its preservation during the 
war to the interposition of the British Consul, who, 
though accredited to Servia, and maintaining an esta- 
blishment at Belgrade, resides in the former place. 
Yet so slight was the gratitude manifested by the 
Austrian Government towards that functionary, that 
his recall was repeatedly demanded in consequence of 
his humane intervention in favor of the Hungarian 
exiles. On one occasion, he was publicly insulted at 
table by an Austrian officer, who spoke to a Russian 
employe, within the hearing of the Consul, in terms 



MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS OE THE POPULATION. 189 

disparaging to the Queen. Mr. Fonblanque demanded 
an explanation. The only excuse the offender could 
offer was, that he had not intended the observation for 
his hearing. 

" Have you any reason, then," inquired the British 
functionary, " for supposing that an insult to her 
Majesty would be grateful to an officer in the service 
of her ally?" The Austrian, perceiving that he had 
fallen into a dilemma, withdrew the offensive epithets, 
and proffered a humble apology. 

The population of Semlin is of a very miscellaneous 
character. It comprises Greeks, Servians, Sclavonians 
and Germans. The main streets contain many hand- 
some houses, churches, cafes, hotels, and other public 
buildings, and the squares are maintained in the same 
orderly manner as in German towns. Yet, from the 
landing-place and quay, Semlin has rather the aspect of 
a large fishing settlement than of the capital of Syrmia. 
With a position little inferior to Belgrade, its advan- 
tages, as a commercial emporium, have been equally 
disregarded. 

The country, extending from the western confines of 
the town to the interior of Syrmia, is very picturesque; 
and just at the point where it commences, a number 
of villas have been erected. The great plain of the 
Danube, interrupted by a range of hills between 
Semendria and Belgrade, recommences also at the 
north-western extremity, and extends for more than 
a hundred miles along the southern bank of the river. 
I was attracted to the first-named locality one Sunday 
afternoon, by perceiving the crowd flock in that direc- 
tion. In spite of recent political occurrences, dancing 
and revelry of every kind were in progress. On the 
borders of the plain, a number of gypsies were encamped, 



190 I RE-EMBARK ON THE SOIL OF AUSTRIA. 

between whom and the similar vagrant race found 
roaming in our country districts, I traced no wide 
distinction either in habits or appearance. 

It was to an accidental rencontre with the military 
commandant of Semlin that I owed my re-admission 
within the Austrian territory. I had accompanied the 
Consul to dinner at one of the hotels, at which the 
officer in question formed one of the party. An 
introduction then took place, and we were soon on 
the best of terms. I apprised him of my intention to 
proceed to Pesth, and requested his signature to my 
passport on the spot, in order that I might be saved 
the embarrassment of seeking for him at a more un- 
seasonable hour. I had now reverted to the document 
originally in my possession, on which was indorsed the 
fatal sentence of the Vienna police ; but I contrived 
to present it to him so folded up, that he could not 
decipher any other character than those of the British 
and French Consul ; and he signed it without further 
observation. 

Such, finally, was the arduous pilgrimage I bad 
accomplished to gain access to the country on which I 
had centred so much of interest ; and it was with no 
ordinary feelings of satisfaction, that I found my per- 
severance had been rewarded by what promised an 
eventual success. 

At length I embarked on board of one of the Danube 
Steam Navigation Company' s boats, with the intention 
of inspecting every portion of Hungary. The progress 
of that flourishing association is fully detailed in Paget' s 
admirable work on the same country. The Company 
was formed by Count Zecchezni, at the time when the 
energies of the Magyar people were just awakened from 
the lethargy under which they had slumbered for a 



DESCRIPTION OF A DANUBE STEAMER. 191 

century. Like all schemes in their infancy, it was 
subjected to unheard-of contumely and ridicule. The 
wisdom and prudence of its originators had no sooner 
rescued it from opprobrium, than the Austrian Govern- 
ment, under the pretence of a desire to further the 
development of the field of operations, appropriated to 
themselves an undertaking which had become too pros- 
perous to be left exclusively in the hands of the Magyars. 
A Danube steamer is necessarily a vessel of the lightest 
possible draught. Its size and powers of accommodation 
are, therefore, limited in proportion. In general, they 
are over-crowded; and, when that is the case, the 
voyager must at once renounce all expectations of com- 
fort. The preference shown by the majority of the 
passengers for the cabins, soon, moreover, renders the 
atmosphere within doors positively intolerable to an 
Englishman. The charges for meals were, at the period 
which I am now describing, fixed at a most extravagant 
rate, and exceeded, by thirty per cent., the scale obtaining 
on Lloyd's steamers. 

For a time, the southern bank of the Danube offered 
a pleasing contrast to the drear monotony of its northern 
rival ; but, by the time we had reached the mouth of 
the Theiss, its sluggish tributary, the vista revealed one 
boundless expanse of marsh, which every now and then 
appeared to contend for the maintenance of its own 
domain with the whimsical and eccentric stream. At 
times, indeed, the river gave signs of a comparatively 
recent encroachment, where the verdant islets that 
dotted at intervals its sullen surface, indicated its occa- 
sional mastery over the vast waste that lay below its 
level. Until it approaches its ultimate destination, the 
bed of the Danube assumes, however, little or no per- 
ceptible expansion, if we take into account the vast 



192 SCENERY OF LOWER HUNGARY. 

accession of waters whicli it receives, in its progress to 
the sea. From Ratisbon downwards to Rutschuck, it 
becomes simultaneously narrow, as it traverses the 
gorges, and simultaneously expands, as it enters upon 
the plains. One-tenth of the revenue squandered by 
Austria, since the peace, in the maintenance of her 
prodigious army, and scarcely less costly system of 
police, would have relieved this noble river of the fatal 
impediments which are interposed to the navigation of 
vessels of any considerable burthen. What is more, the 
undertaking would have, ere this, repaid in full the 
original outlay. 

Above Orsova, the rapids stay the progress of ships of 
the smallest tonnage ; and the Danube at Ratisbon is as 
much available for the transit of the craft that ply upon 
it, as the Danube at Semlin or Semendria. 

Though resembling Holland in its general aspect, the 
portion of Hungary we were now traversing possessed 
few of its redeeming features. For miles the eye encoun- 
tered not a human habitation. The banks of the 
Mississippi present scarcely wider gaps of animate 
objects. Indeed, the great surface of the one is alive, 
night and day, with human freights; the narrower 
basin of the other is rarely disturbed by the plash of the 
dashing steamer. 

As we approached Carlovitz, a few country seats peeped 
out from behind the osiers which fringed the margin 
of the river. Soon, the appearance of the Sclavonian 
side began to alter for the better, till the vine at last 
succeeded to the interminable morass . Another half hour 
brought us alongside of Peterwardein and its famous 
fortress. The channel between the bridge of boats, 
serving to connect Peterwardein with Neusatz, being 
pre-occupied by two steam-tugs, bearing in tow a long 



NEUSATZ AND ITS TERRIFIC OVERTHROW. 193 

train of government barges, laden with military stores, 
the captain permitted us to spend an hour on shore. 
We landed on the Neusatz side, at an outpost attached 
to the fortress of Peterwardein. 

My pen cannot adequately describe the fearful scene 
of desolation that gradually unfolded itself to our view. 
Neusatz was literally a heap of ruins. Scarcely twenty 
houses had been spared by the avenging arm of the 
destroyer. Not a church but had been blown into a 
hundred fragments ; not a public building but had been 
dismantled of its roof, and lay exposed to the influence 
of the elements. How many oT the population had 
perished while the catastrophe was being consummated, 
none cared to tell ! Neusatz was a Greek colony, which 
having been transplanted during the reign of Joseph, 
has since taken root in Hungary. The people were 
friendly to the cause of the Magyar, and attributed not 
to them the work of devastation ; but to the selfish and 
heartless conduct of the Austrians, who had, under 
cover of the town, opened a severe but inoperative fire 
on the fortress opposite. The work of destruction had 
not been confined to Neusatz ; for two miles on either 
side we passed, one after another, ruined villas, farm- 
houses, and cottages. The downfall of one villa in the 
immediate vicinity, evoked the special commiseration of 
the passengers. Whether it was from sympathy with 
the proprietor, or from sorrow for the loss of that which 
combined within a small compass so much to charm the 
senses, I was at a loss to discover. 

Our party comprised a miscellaneous assortment of 
humanity. The captain was a burly Italian, who, to 
judge from his declarations, was indoctrinated with revo- 
lutionary opinions. My notion placed him in the 
category of a time-server. He professed the utmost 

K 



194 ESSEG AND ITS FORTRESS. 

anxiety to render me as comfortable as possible; and 
with that view, insisted upon my dining with him in 
his own cabin. There he introduced me to an Austrian 
officer, who, by the courage he had displayed in some 
trivial affair of outposts, had been raised from the rank 
of lieutenant to that of colonel. A French beet-root 
planter, whose manufactory had been destroyed during 
the war, and who was now on his way to Vienna to 
demand compensation, also joined us. Their object in 
inviting him had been to cross-examine him as to his 
loss, in the hope of floundering him, and reporting as 
unfavorably as possible. Unfortunately, Monsieur was 
much too communicative ; and I should have trembled 
for the consequences of his volubility, but that I felt 
assured his claim would be satisfied in the main, through 
the agency of his ambassador. 

A portion of our female society, though sufficiently 
respectable in appearance, gave unmistakeable proofs of 
frailty before we reached Esseg. The moral perception 
becomes more and more blunted as you enter upon 
Eastern Europe, and it is in the Danubian provinces that 
the evil reaches its culminating point. 

At Esseg, the capital of Sclavonia, we were destined 
to remain an hour or two, to take in cargo. A party of 
officers invited me, therefore, to join them in a ramble 
about the town. I thought that I had never beheld a 
neater, cleaner, or more handsome town in the best 
parts of Germany. If there were scope for criticism, 
where everything appeared so perfect as a whole, it was 
the air of preciseness, and the rigidity of ensemble, 
which characterised it in common with its German pro- 
totypes. After partaking of breakfast in the great 
square, we returned to the steamer, laden with a supply 
of fruit and confectionery for the remainder of the 



A ROMANTIC OCCURRENCE. 195 

voyage. Esseg is strongly fortified; at the outbreak 
of hostilities it was occupied by the Hungarians ; but it 
capitulated after a brief investment, in consequence of 
the inexperience and incapacity of its youthful com- 
mander. 

As Esseg is situate some miles up the Drave, it 
became necessary, on resuming our course, to retrace 
our steps to the Danube. The country had long since 
resumed its marshy appearance, but the population 
became apparently less sparse, and the plains were 
covered with cattle. We touched at numerous rude 
stations, and in the evening reached Mohacs, a place 
renowned in Turkish story. There we remained suffici- 
ently long to enable us to sup. Mohacs is a substantial 
thriving country town, such as we find in our agricul- 
tural districts at home. I was surprised to observe the 
boldness with which the talismanic name of Kossuth 
was appended to almost every article in the shops, and 
under the very nose of the Austrian authorities. 

In the evening a very romantic occurrence took place 
in the cabin below. A person attired in male costume 
had attracted my attention while engaged in promenading 
the deck during the morning, by her somewhat feminine 
development of figure. She was now openly taxed with 
the soft impeachment, and her true sex unmasked, by 
the captain and our Austrian officer. On our arriving 
at Pesth in the morning she was formally arrested by a 
party of gendarmes, and carried to prison, in defiance 
of her protest as to the infraction of the treaty of 
Comorn, which had rendered her person inviolable. 

It would seem that our fair militant had acted as 
Under-Lieutenant at Comorn with great credit to her- 
self, and was now on her way home to rejoin her family. 
A nation, methinks, must be in earnest, when its women 



196 PESTH AND ITS PALACES. 

spontaneously don the panoply of war, and hasten 
forward, at the peril of their lives, to struggle in its 
defence. 

At seven in the morning I landed on the quay of the 
fair city of Pesth. Even at that early hour a busy 
throng were hurrying along, intent on business and 
pleasure ; and, as the morning advanced, and the shops 
displayed to advantage their costly and miscellaneous 
stores, I thought that the opinion I had, by anticipa- 
tion, formed of the capital of Hungary, was very much 
more than realised by the result. Situate on a vast 
plain, of old the theatre of feudal conventions, to which 
a thousand barons congregated to adjust their mutual 
interests ; and too often to decide, by the sword, their 
mutual quarrels, Pesth has risen to its present position 
with a rapidity which outstrips any other city on the 
continent of Europe. Twenty years ago, the northern 
division of the capital, now the site of its finest streets 
and squares, was one continuous morass, which drain- 
age and an artificial foundation rendered ultimately 
suitable for the purpose to which it is now applied. 
Even now the croaking of the frog may be distinctly 
heard, as evening sets in, from the Joseph Platz. The 
comparatively recent construction of the city, has, 
therefore, contributed to endow it with all the advan- 
tages of modern refinement, and to give it a rank imme- 
diately after Paris, Berlin, and Edinburgh. Buda, on 
the contrary, for the most part, impresses one as real- 
ising the beau ideal of a German town of the last 
century ; and it is only where it has extended itself into 
the country, that you trace any signs at work of modern 
agency. 

After a breakfast at one of the magnificent cafes for 
which Pesth is celebrated, I explored the vicinity of the 



DESTRUCTION BY THE AUSTRIAN BOMBARDMENTS. 197 

quays in quest of an hotel, and finally determined to 
take up my quarters at the Hotel Emmerling, nearly 
opposite the suspension bridge. The Queen of England, 
which was formerly the principal hotel, had been in 
great measure destroyed by the Austrian bombardment, 
and was, therefore, closed. 

The grand National Theatre, in short, at least half of 
the public buildings, and a large portion of the private 
houses, in the vicinity of the quays, had shared a similar 
fate. In many cases the bombs had penetrated to the 
northernmost limits of the city. The house of a friend 
of mine in the Joseph Platz was riddled by six of these 
formidable missiles; one of which, exploding in his 
library, destroyed a portion of the books and various 
articles of furniture. The bombs remained buried in 
the w r alls, and there he intended them to abide, as a 
perpetual vestige of Austrian barbarity. The front of 
the hotel I resided in had been completely carried away. 
That of the casino, founded by Count Zecchezni, had 
experienced the same wanton outrage. Men shook their 
heads when I inquired as to the compensation likely to 
be awarded for this wholesale Vandalism. A third of 
Buda had been levelled with the ground. Whole streets 
had disappeared or left a vestige of their quondam exist- 
ence by a mass of shapeless ruins. 

An awful gloom pervaded the minds of all. It was 
only the cowardly, swaggering Austrian, that could find 
food for boisterous merriment during the funeral rites 
of a great city. But twenty-four hours since Louis 
Batthyany had fallen under the axe of the executioner. 
That very day two patriots had been hung. Day by 
day had the same scene been enacted over the fallen 
brave. Not even the kinsman of our own queen had 
been spared by the ruthless assassins. Nine generals 



198 TRAGEDIES IN PROGRESS. AUSTRIAN OFFICERS. 

had been shot, at one fell swoop, at Arad, without trial. 
The Neuderbei was choked with 3000 prisoners of every 
rank, age and sex. The execution of Batthyany had been 
transformed by the Austrians into a carnival. Of all 
the frantic, demoniacal orgies the vilest rabble-rout 
had ever worked themselves into perpetrating, that day 
must be recorded as the apotheosis of them all. Aus- 
trian officers, old and young, galloped like men frenzied 
before the corse of the high-born noble, spitting on it, 
and spluttering in their rage. Regardless whom they 
insulted, heeding not the crowds of soldiers with whom 
they came into contact, they shouted, cursed, and raved, 
until their voices refused them utterance. Yet it has 
been reserved for an English nobleman, a man too, who, 
up to that time, had acquired a character for good 
taste, if not liberality, to hold up this incarnation of 
monstrosity, this beastly horde of miscreants, to the 
admiration of the British people ; and to translate, into 
our Saxon tongue, the apology of a hireling soldier, for 
acts of ruffianism, without a parallel, since the days of 
the brutal Alva. 

Had these monsters simply confined themselves to 
acts of atrocity, such as I have described, committed 
in an hour of passion, when the ignominy of past defeat 
rankled in their bosoms, some palliation might possibly 
be offered, but it was their callous indifference, now 
that they were victors, to the fate of the unhappy 
Honveds, whom the fortune of war had placed at their 
mercy, that went to complete the catalogue of their 
crimes, and stamped them as aliens to the feelings of 
gentlemen, of soldiers, and of men of honour. 

No sooner did Haynau find himself entrusted with 
absolute power to slay or to spare, than he ordered the 
ejection of the Homed wounded, from all the public 



RELENTLESS CHARACTER OF HAYNATJ. 199 

hospitals, and filled tliem with Austrian troops. Many 
of those brave men had already reached the last article 
of death, yet not a voice was lifted up in their behalf; 
and, to the streets of Pesth, or worse, to the pitiless 
marshes of the plain, there to rot and die, were the 
hapless men consigned. 

Even there, the savage hyena, Haynau, stopped not. 
The alms tendered by their compassionate fellow-coun- 
trymen, were tortured into so many acts of suspected 
complicity and defiance ; and the donors were liable to 
be beaten by the soldiery, or denounced to the police. 
In more than one instance, I have been an eye-witness 
of this malevolence, and have seen ladies of noble birth 
publicly insulted, in relieving the necessities of those 
unfortunates. After death had relieved a large propor- 
tion from their sufferings, and the less grievously 
wounded were fast filling the ranks of the moribund, 
then, and not till then, the hero of Brescia ordered 
their removal into quarters better adapted to their 
forlorn situation. 

Think not, gentle reader, that any latent chord of 
compassion had commenced to vibrate anew in that 
savage breast. The narrative will of itself eventually 
unfold the secret, but we will anticipate it. Sickened at 
the unparalleled spectacle of barbarity which he, from 
day to day, witnessed, in perambulating the dreary 
morass in the outskirts of the town, the author 
penned an indignant remonstrance to Lord Ponsonby, 
respecting this violation of military honour. The letter 
was intercepted, so were the despatches to the journal 
to which he contributed ; but the severe tone of de- 
nunciation in which they were couched produced a 
speedy effect ; and ere the lapse of a fortnight, Feld- 
zugmeister Haynau issued the order adverted to — the 
merit of which he claimed for himself, as if it were ex 



200 TREATMENT OF THE RELATIVES OF KOSSUTH. 

motu proprio, ratlier than a tardy act of submission, 
extorted by a menaced exposure. Happily, the further 
efforts of the author to assuage the condition of persons 
incarcerated for imaginary offences, or for some acci- 
dental consanguinity with the family of Kossuth, and 
others of the chiefs, were attended with a similar 
success. The aged mother, and the sister of Kossuth, 
were, at this very moment, confined in a small dungeon 
in the Pestung of Buda. The scantiest and coarsest 
food was supplied to them \ and even that, as no attend- 
ance was allowed, they were compelled to dress with 
their own hands. Eventually, their position was 
alleviated through the same instrumentality ; and the 
authorities being thrown on a false scent after 
Madame Kossuth, that lady reached her husband 
in safety. 

Meanwhile, the author's own security was becoming 
day by day more precarious. Fortunately, his identity 
with the expelled of W elden had yet to be established. 
Spies were soon set on his track, and his friends whis- 
pered, that the place would soon become too hot to 
hold him. Of the ungrudging hospitality of the latter 
he retains many pleasing reminiscences. Nowhere are 
the duties of friendship better understood, or more 
sedulously practised towards a stranger, more es- 
pecially if he be an Englishman, than in Hungary. 
At Pesth, he had the pleasure of cultivating the 
acquaintance of most of the Hungarian aristocracy 
holding liberal opinions. Many of them who had 
not even been compromised in the war, had lost 
nearly all their personal property. One nobleman, 
resident in Transylvania, had been a particular sufferer. 
He had just completed a mansion in the vicinity of 
Clausenberg, after the English style, attached to which 
was a conservatory, and every appendage of luxury 



THE WALLACHS AND THEIR PATRON. 201 

consistent with his rank, when Janco and his Wallach 
hordes, hounded on by Urban, the Austrian commander, 
broke in, and in an hour destroyed the labour of years, 
gutted the mansion, and burned or trampled on what 
could not be carried off. His wife and himself had fled 
at the first tidings of their approach, and ventured out 
of their place of concealment only to behold everything 
they possessed laid waste, or devastated. Their only child, 
a delicate infant, fell a victim to fright and exposure 
to the cold. 

It w^ould require a dozen Ciceros to particularise and 
sum up the enormities of which Urban, the Austrian 
Verres, was either a party to, or participator in. As 
for the Wallach chief, after amassing a vast amount of 
every species of property, which he took care to secrete 
in the mountains, he began to wax fat, and kick against 
the curb that was ultimately applied to restrain him ; 
and followed by his hordes, perambulated the streets of 
Clausenberg, exhibiting the Russian and Austrian 
orders, which his savagery had fairly earned for him. 
One case of peculiar atrocity is related of this miscreant. 
He was anxious to butcher the Magyar inhabitants of 
a village. To accomplish this, he had to withdraw his 
own people. The former, in their alarm, sent messages 
to protest that they were actuated by no feelings of 
enmity, and called for an explanation, both as to the 
departure of his compatriots, and his own presence with 
such a force in the vicinity. In reply, he declared that 
he had no evil intentions ; and begged that they would 
resume their ordinary feelings of security. Towards 
midnight, when all had retired to rest, a part of his 
gang set fire to a portion of the town, and located 
themselves so as to shoot every one who escaped, while 
the remainder surrounded the other sections, in order 

k5 



202 A MASSACRE. — AUSTRIAN RAPACITY. 

to butcher, or to cut off the retreat of those who might 
be roused by the alarm. A general massacre now took 
place, in which neither age, rank, nor sex, were spared, 
and ere morning had dawned, the whole population 
(with the exception of twenty individuals, afterwards 
poisoned) had ceased to exist, and the village was a 
heap of ruins. 

Though the Wallachs were the nominal perpetrators 
of these wholesale butcheries, circumstances soon indi- 
cated that they were but the ignorant instruments of 
craftier hands, and helped to unmask the actual insti- 
gators. Like so many vultures, the Austrian officers 
were soon on the alert to grasp the lion's share of the 
plunder. The pretext they assigned for their sudden 
alacrity after the mischief had been perpetrated, was 
the necessity of taking an inventory of the articles still 
remaining. Only the more bulky and easily recognised 
property was entered in the list they professed to make 
out ; and such insignificant chattels, as diamond rings, 
gold pins, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and small 
articles of silver plate, were all retained, and shared 
among the Austrian officers. What with the plunder ap- 
propriated by the Russian, Wallachians and the Austrian 
troops, the upper classes in Hungary and Transylvania 
must have been mulcted of personal property to the 
amount of half a million sterling, independent alto- 
gether of the losses incurred by the destruction and 
conflagration of their houses. Well might the ill-paid 
Austrian officer launch out on a sudden into all sorts of 
extravagance on the cessation of hostilities, and astonish, 
by his excesses, those who were aware to what shifts he 
had been previously obliged to resort, to make both 
ends meet. 

The overbearing and insolent deportment of the 



CONDUCT OF THE GERMANS IN HUNGARY. 203 

Austrian officers in Pesth had nearly occasioned a popular 
outbreak during my residence in that city. The Magyars 
entertain a fond recollection of their ancient princes 
and heroes; and there was scarcely a shop in Pesth but 
had their portraits and armorial panellings emblazoned 
on their fronts. To these the Austrians had a parti- 
cular aversion, in consequence of their serving to keep 
alive the old yearnings after a distinct nationality. 
Haynau had, consequently, given orders not only that 
they should be effaced; but that German should be sub- 
stituted for Magyar names. The better to overawe 
the town, the Festung of Buda, which Gorgey had par- 
tially destroyed from the Blocksberg, was now under- 
going repair, and an unusual number of troops were 
concentrated within the city. 

A great proportion of the trading classes of Pesth are 
of German origin, yet they have always been ready to 
wave national traditions, and adhere to the cause of the 
country of their adoption. They were the most ardent 
supporters of the struggle ; and were as ready as the 
Magyars themselves to pronounce the dethronement of 
the House of Habsburgh. In western Hungary, on the 
contrary, where the Magyar is little more than a unit 
of the population, they have driven in the thick end of 
the wedge, and being now predominant, they were more 
indifferent to the issue of the contest. 

The Jews had their own injuries to avenge. In Hun- 
gary they are so numerous that they may be said to form 
a distinct nation ; where we number them by tens, they 
number there by thousands. Many of them had been the 
most able and useful agents of the insurrection ; but to 
discriminate between those of them who were directly 
implicated and those who had held aloof, was too tedious 
and cumbrous a process for the vindictiveness of Haynau. 



204 THE JEWS ; GIPSIES.— THE MAGYARS, 

To punish the guilty, it appeared to liim necessary to 
amerce the innocent; and a penalty, amounting to 
confiscation, was therefore imposed upon the whole 
body. In vain they alleged that they could not com- 
mand the sum he had thought proper to inflict. He 
vras only the more peremptory in his demands. 

Among the other most useful auxiliaries of the Magyar, 
the Gipsies of Hungary deserve mention for the bravery 
and adroitness with which they brought their peculiar 
science as an addition to the common stock. Like the 
Guachoes of South America, they are distinguished by 
the fleetness of their steeds, and their agility when 
mounted. At times they rode right into the midst of 
the Austrian cavalry, and each marking his man, would 
throw the lasso expertly round his neck, and carry him 
off or strangle him before he could recover himself from 
his surprise at the manoeuvre. The same people are 
passionately fond of music, and, thanks to the skill they 
have acquired in the art, are accustomed to tramp the 
country in parties to earn a livelihood. 

The Magyars are not an expanding people. They 
occupy pretty nearly the same extent of territory in the 
present as they did in the past five centuries. Neither 
are they prolific. Seldom or never do you meet with 
a large family. The same phenomenon is applicable to 
all the nomade hordes which have, from time to time, 
overrun Europe from Central Asia. More than any 
other does it apply to the Ottoman race. Yet the 
Magyar, whensoever he may regain his independence, 
will continue to form the pedestal of whatever nation 
may be reconstituted from the composite materials 
found within the Hungarian territory. With all the 
spirit of mastery which characterises him, he is neither 
hated nor contemned by the other peoples of Hungary. 



THEIR CHARACTER AND DESTINY. 205 

Witness as a proof, the facility with which they adopt 
his name and nationality when interrogated on the 
subject. He, moreover, least of all, will be a loser by 
a fusion. With all the impetuosity and fire innate in 
the warlike clans of Tartary, he is deficient in the 
peculiar immobility and steadiness of purpose of the 
Teutonic races. A Magyar would never dream of going 
round a hill, if there were any possibility of cutting 
through it. Like all races that have been imperfectly 
submitted to the action of the fire, they abhor a slow 
and plodding mode of arriving at an object : it cannot 
be denied, therefore, that they have benefited by an 
infusion of the German element. That, however, is 
within their reach without the instrumentality of an 
Austrian dynasty. At present an exotic and most 
fastidious civilisation is seen stalking side by side with 
the semi-barbarous relics of pastoral tradition. 

I shall not attempt to conceal my opinion that the 
perils of Hungary would not have terminated with a 
merely successful issue of the struggle. Numerous dis- 
turbing elements meet the eye of the philosopher at 
every turn. Were mankind, however, to wait for the 
establishment of free institutions until every counter- 
acting influence had ceased to operate, liberty would 
have been known to us only by its reminiscences, or as 
a thing that had floated before men's vision only to be 
immediately discarded. The struggle that is past, while 
it is suggestive of future success in the field of battle, is 
pregnant with counsel to those on whom it may devolve 
to legislate and administer the civil affairs of Hungary. 

For the moment, the Magyars, as a body, had become 
so dismayed at the utter overthrow which had befallen 
them, that they were almost at a loss as to the demea- 
nour it was most proper to assume under the terrible 



206 DEMEANOUR OF ENGLAND DURING THE STRUGGLE. 

contingency. The question was on more than one 
occasion propounded to me as an Englishman and 
sympathiser. " Neither irritate nor yield/' was my re- 
joinder. "If you irritate, you will furnish the enemy 
with a pretext for crushing you limb by limb; if you 
yield, he will, from your momentary abasement, found 
a policy to keep you prostrate. Maintain by all means 
an undaunted front. You are all acquainted with the 
history of England. Recollect how we have triumphed, 
simply by resorting to a system of passive resistance 
against tyranny. In that you can only succeed by 
perfect unanimity. Do not make the experiment unless 
you are sure of its success. But, at all events, be 
firm," 

I could not furnish an equally satisfactory answer 
to another query which, in the fulness of their hearts, 
this noble people repeatedly proposed to me. Where 
was England in our extremity ? How is it that she 
could not or would not assist us ? To reply that she 
could not, would have been to belie my own reason. 
England could have terminated the contest in July 
almost without striking a blow. Austria and Russia 
had at that time exerted their uttermost. The Magyar 
had stood the full brunt. A pound in excess will often 
break the camel's back. This was not the case with 
the Magyar. Hungary, unlike Poland, fought by her 
mountains and morasses against her enemies as well as 
her men. What then was wanted to turn the balance ? 
First, and above all, the recognition of her indepen- 
dence by the leading European state. There are many 
who think that alone would have saved her; who 
believe that the nation would have risen en masse, and 
by a terrible onslaught, hurled back the invader at 
every point. That proving insufficient, what then 



CONSEQUENCES OF INTERVENTION ON HER PART. 207 

would have been required ? Very little, and that little 
would have been effectual. The relief of Venice — the 
blockade of Trieste, Fiume and Bagusa, both prac- 
ticable with a line of battle ship and five frigates, the 
disembarcation of a handful of troops and marines at 
any point in Croatia, and the distribution of 100,000 
stand of arms. The liberal party in Croatia and 
Dalmatia would, under those auspices, have assuredly 
thrown off the Austrian yoke, and, joining the British 
contingent, have fallen on the Ban in the rear, and 
effectually disposed of him. Or, supposing England 
had thought proper to embark Turkey in the quarrel, 
the same assistance might have been still more effectually 
rendered by the Danube. 

The want of arms was an irremediable obstacle to 
the full development of their plans by the Hungarians. 
Guyon assured me that, on one occasion, when he set 
out to inspect two regiments of Honveds, he found them 
carrying nothing more formidable than shilelaghs. On 
inquiring the cause, he was informed that arms were 
not to be obtained, and that the troops in question 
were waiting until their brethren had died off to possess 
themselves of theirs. Such an impression had the 
incident upon the General, that he immediately ordered 
the establishment of a manufactory at Grosswardein, 
and within a month, a hundred and fifty stand a day 
were turned out. 

To solve satisfactorily the question, " "Why would not 
England assist Hungary ?" would be to enter upon a 
wide and sterile field, or nothing less than to descant 
upon the principles which have guided her statesmen 
since the last European war. The question hinges 
rather on the point, "Are there not cases in which 
England would feel herself bound to interpose, and 



208 DISTASTE OF RUSSIAN OFFICERS FOR THE SERVICE. 

did not such an occasion arise by the intervention of 
Russia ?" Had she to go far to find a pretext for the 
recognition of the independence, nay more, the support 
of Hungary? Had not Austria herself furnished a 
precedent sufficiently apropos? Would it have been 
any more an infraction of international law for England, 
as a free country, to take the part of a nation which, 
to say the least, had always enjoyed a quasi inde- 
pendence, than it was for Russia to throw her sword 
into the balance on the side of despotism. History 
analogy, justice, are all involved in furnishing a 
reply. 

Apropos of the Russians, it is only right to state, that 
the service in which they were engaged was viewed by 
them in the most distasteful light ; nor did they always 
let slip the opportunity of bruiting their opinions on 
the subject. Many of the officers wore portraits of 
Kossuth under their linen, and openly displayed them 
in the presence of a sympathetic audience. Some of 
them were actually placed under arrest by the Aus- 
trians, for ebullitions of political feeling. Every day 
served to exhibit, by their language and demeanour, the 
contempt they entertained for their suppliant ally. 
It was illustrated by a thousand incidents; one, 
founded on the very best authority, may suffice for 
our purpose : — A party of Russian officers had ordered 
dinner at an hotel at Clausenberg, for a certain hour. 
Having arrived some minutes before the appointed 
time, they observed that preparation had been made 
for an additional number. The proprietor was imme- 
diately summoned, and interrogated as to the quality 
of his expected guests. " Only a few Austrian officers!" 
was the rejoinder. "Oh, Austrian officers!" "Well, 
what will be the charge 'for the entertainment we re- 



PESTH AS THE SITE OF A GREAT CAPITAL. 209 

quested you to provide?" " So much." " Theu here 
it is ; and forthwith they went their way." 

Before we bid adieu to Pesth, we must not fail to 
notice, as it deserves, her admirable position for the 
site of a great capital. Nature, even more than art, 
has worked to accomplish that end. She, far more than 
Vienna, deserves to be the capital of Austria. The 
Danube sweeps in a noble reach, majestically before 
her. It is crossed by a magnificent suspension bridge, 
the work of an English engineer, just where the pressure 
of the cooped-up stream is strongest. The quays are 
lined with some of the finest buildings in Europe, 
many of the houses, or, to speak more properly, blocks, 
have cost £50,000 each. Generally speaking, the 
prices of provisions are moderate ; but the consumption, 
caused by the war, had raised them 200 per cent, 
over the usual rate. Towering above the city, rises 
the Eestung of Buda ; and to the south, on a yet loftier 
elevation, the celebrated Blocksberg. On its western 
slopes, the vine, from whence the celebrated Ofiher is 
manufactured, is raised in abundance. All the wines 
of Hungary are excellent of their kind ; and, as a whole 
are, perhaps, superior to those of any other country in 
Europe. Their genuineness is guaranteed by the name 
of the owner of the estate being labelled on the bottle. 
Only the more celebrated are known in England, such 
as Tokay, etc. 

Pesth possesses no lack of theatrical entertainments. 
The two larger theatres were closed at the period of my 
visit ; but the National Hungarian Opera was in the 
height of its season. Being the only candidate for the po- 
pular favour, it was crowded every evening. The pieces 
were admirably presented. For some time, I could not 
disembarrass myself of the illusion that it was Italian, 



210 INSTITUTIONS. THE CASINO. 

and not Magyar, that was being sung with such sweet- 
ness and flexibility. Turning from the stage to the 
decorations of the theatre, one could not help smiling 
at the repeated changes to which a portion of them had 
been submitted, as fortune wavered between kings and 
the people. Four several times had the royal insignia 
been removed to give place to more popular devices ; 
and the last, and for a time definitive inscription, had 
as yet scarcely become dry, when I beheld it. The 
summer theatre at Ofen attracted a great concourse on 
the finer evenings. It is situate in a handsome garden, 
in one of the faubourgs of Buda, and is chiefly devoted 
to the production of vaudevilles and burlesques. 

The institutions of Pesth are numerous and well 
appointed. Among the most important is the Casino, 
which was formed on the model of an English club; 
although it possesses few of the resources and attrac- 
tions of such institutions. The newspapers admitted 
were limited to Galignani, the Debats, and the German 
journals favourable to the Government, and the pro- 
gress of the insignificant library was paralysed by means 
of the prevailing Index Expurgatorius. Of all the 
public buildings, the barracks, military storehouses, 
and quarters of the police, were the most numerous. 
Excess in these particulars, is the normal characteristic 
of the Austrian sway. 

At length we took our departure for Presburgh, 
by one of the Danube steamers, with the intention of 
visiting every place worthy of note on our way. The 
plain of Pesth is dotted, on either side, by cheerful 
villages and substantial farmhouses and mills, giving 
evidence of agricultural progress. Waitzen, hence- 
forth remarkable in history for the battle fought in its 
vicinity between Gorgey and Paskewitch, is a prosper- 



GRAN AND ITS CATHEDRAL. 211 

ous and increasing country town, situated on an angle of 
the Danube, which from that place takes a westerly 
course, and at the very point where the Bakonyer Wald 
intersects the country. There also, but on a small 
and inferior scale, the scenery re-assumes the features 
of grandeur, with which it was invested at Orsova; 
but the face of the country is enlivened by numerous 
villages, the town of Maroth, the ruined castles of the 
feudal era, and the line of railway between Vienna and 
Pesth, which, every now and then, skirts the banks of 
the river. 

Below Gran, the Wald terminates, and you again 
launch all at once on the boundless plain. The eastern 
portion of the city occupies, however, a very pleasant 
position on the edge of the cliffs ; and there, in a species 
of close, the New Cathedral, the Archbishop' s Palace, 
the College of the Eesidentiaries, and the site of the 
Old Palace of St. Stephen, are situate. 

The Archbishop of Gran is Primate of all Hungary ; 
and his revenues are on the most colossal scale. The 
Austrian Government is apt to keep the appointment in 
abeyance for seven years after his decease, for the purpose 
of appropriating his princely revenue. 

The cathedral is modelled, on a diminished scale, after 
that of St. Peter's, at Home. It was erected at the 
exclusive cost of the present Primate and his predecessor. 
The interior is surpassingly magnificent. The columns are 
formed of the richest Carrara marble ; and the altar-piece 
and all the other appointments of the edifice, are inlaid 
with a mosaic of the finest specimens, of the same material. 
Below are the catacombs, containing the tombs* of the 
various primates, and some of the kings. I was accom- 
panied over the edifice by a party of Magyar priests, of 
the Romish communion. Nowhere before had I met 



212 DANUBE TIMBER-RAFTS. 

with men who, by their philosophic temperament, 
seemed more fully to belie the tenets of their faith. 
They were unsparing in their ridicule of Romish super- 
stition, and assured me that the rites of their religion, 
thanks to the intelligence of the people, were not so 
rigidly observed as in other Popish countries. 

The town of Gran, intersected by a small stream, 
connected with the Danube, and navigable by the 
passage-boats plying on that river, appears to be one of 
those stagnant, lethargic places which depend upon 
agriculture and its followers for their subsistence. Not 
but that it boasts of three or four very handsome 
churches, a fine stadt-house, and some very well-regulated 
streets. 

The river Gran, odd as it may seem, rises in the 
Carpathian range ; and though it takes its name from, 
or gives it to the city, as the case may be, it debouches 
into the Danube on the northern bank. A bridge of 
boats formerly connected Gran with its northern faubourg ; 
but at the time I am now describing, it had been 
destroyed by Gorgey, and was not yet replaced. 

At Gran I remained twenty-four hours, and proceeded 
to Comorn on the following day. Nothing occurred to 
vary the monotony of the region we were traversing, 
but the view of the receding Bakonyer Wald, the floating 
water-mills, and the rude timber-rafts which were being 
propelled down the current. On the rafts were erected 
small huts, which were sometimes tenanted by the 
proprietor, but more frequently by the wild Sclavack 
steersmen. 

On landing at Comorn, I hastened across the bridge 
of boats, and in consequence of information I had 
received, made direct for the hotel. It was already 
pre-occupied ; but I finally succeeded in procuring an 



COMORN AND THE AUSTRIAN BOMBARDMENT. 213 

apartment in a ruined habitation in the vicinity, for the 
evening. 

Though the fate of Comorn was an enviable one, 
compared with that of Neusatz, still more than a third 
of the town, and that too in the most elite localities, had 
been destroyed by the Austrian bombardment. The 
principal cafe in the town was roofless : the upper 
stories had been completely carried away, yet it was 
open to the public as usual, and a cover of tarpauling did 
the duty of its more impervious predecessor. The same 
fate had befallen my own place of residence. Every church 
in the town, save one, had been reduced to a heap of 
ruins. The population, having had no means of exit, as 
at Neusatz, they experienced a mortality which more 
than compensated for the comparative exemption from 
loss of property. 

Comorn is a large, but not a very important town. 
Prom its position, at the confluence of the Waag and 
the Danube, it possesses, however, a considerable timber 
trade. The timber is felled in the Carpathian range ; 
it is then carried down the Waag to Comorn, where it 
is formed into rafts, and floated down the Danube, 
sometimes as far as Semlin. The Sclavacks, who fell it, 
conduct it to its destination The progress of civilisation 
has little, if at all, affected that race of Parias. To this 
day, they are the same loathsome, indolent savages as 
were their fathers, three centuries ago ; and, since their 
habits of intemperance seem rather to be on the increase 
than otherwise, so in proportion do they become the 
slaves of the Jewish usurers, who swarm in the region 
they more particularly inhabit. 

Towards its confluence with the Danube, the Waag 
rivals in width the parent stream ; but as it pursues its 
tortuous course along the plain, and enters the valley on 



214 DESCRIPTION OF THE FORTRESS. 

which it has bestowed its name, its channel becomes 
more circumscribed. Its appellation is appropriately 
derived from the Latin word vagus ; for not only is the 
Waag a tortuous, but it is a capricious river, which 
delights, even more than the Danube, in a periodical 
change of bed. 

My place of sojourn not affording alimentary enter- 
tainment, I betook myself to the solitary hotel to supper. 
The accommodation was of a very humble description ; 
but its defects were fully compensated by the hospitable 
reception I experienced from the company present, which 
included the Town-Major and other Austrian officers. 
The first-named functionary was conversant with the 
English language, and evoked all the reminiscences of 
a visit he had paid to England some years ago. In 
taking leave, he invited me to make a tour of inspection 
over the fortress on the morrow. 

The fortress of Comorn was commenced by the 
Emperor Ferdinand II., towards the close of the sixteenth 
century ; but it did not receive its final completion till 
within a recent period. In the reign of Ferdinand, the 
discovery had begun to be made, that the real strength 
of a fortress did not necessarily consist in the selection 
of a lofty or inaccessible position ; but in one combining, 
like Comorn, certain rare attributes of a different order. 
The Dutch, by their famous defence of places similarly 
situated, had demonstrated the rationale of the new 
theory — and engineering science began to adapt itself 
to the novel exigency. 

Comorn, then, is insulated by the Danube and Waag ; 
the island, on which it is situated, is called the Little 
Schiitt. The outworks extend to the other side of the 
"Waag, and to the southern bank of the Danube. Per- 
haps there is scarcely a fortress in Europe which covers 



CONTRAST BETWEEN GORGEY AND WASHINGTON. 215 

so vast an extent of ground, or is capable of containing 
so large an army within its walls. It was that which 
rendered its possession of inestimable advantage to the 
Hungarians. Had Gorgey been more intent on deve- 
loping himself in the character of Washington than that 
of Arnold, Comorn would, perhaps, like West Point, 
have turned the balance of the war. It is almost super- 
fluous to remark, that there can be no comparison, 
for an instant, between the critical and forlorn state in 
which Washington found himself placed, and the disor- 
ganisation of Gorgey^s army. The latter could calculate 
upon the support of a population of six millions in his 
rear ; the former had to husband his resources with the 
most unparalleled parsimony, in order to keep the field. 
The latter could command ready and unlimited supplies 
of provisions ; the former was often on the brink of 
starvation. No one of the crises Gorgey underwent 
should necessarily have been fatal; those encountered 
by Washington were sufficient to appal any other than 
a sterling patriot and soldier. 

It is difficult to see how an enemy could undertake an 
effectual blockade of Comorn. That attempted by the 
Austrians was very inefficient. Guyon, when sent to 
take the command of the garrison, swam the Waag, in 
company with twenty-three huzzars, in safety, and sur- 
prising one of the enemy's posts, defended by forty 
men, took them as prisoners along with him into the 
fortress. Comorn possesses, however, its weak points, 
which would be severely tested were an attempt made to 
storm it. The barracks and officers' quarters within the 
fortress are very extensive, but were nothing like suf- 
ficient for the Austrian garrison, a part of which 
was accordingly lodged in the town. Immense trains 
of waggons, laden with military stores, passed and 



216 RAAB. — A MAGYAR MAIDEN. 

repassed the bridges of boats thrown across either arm 
of the Danube, as if the new tenants felt the insecurity 
of their tenure. 

In consequence of a heavy fog, the steamer I proposed 
to embark in was several hours beyond her appointed 
time. These delays, and worse, a non-arrival, are of 
constant occurrence at this period of the year. The fog 
of the Danube may vie, any day, with its rival on the 
banks of the Thames. At six in the evening we were 
under weigh for Gonyo ; but we had scarcely proceeded 
two miles before the captain gave orders to lower anchor. 
It was not until the morning, therefore, that we reached 
our destination. 

At Gonyo I embarked on board a branch steamer, 
plying between that place and Haab. Raab is situate 
ten miles up the river of the same name. It is a pretty 
agricultural and commercial town, with a population of 
twenty thousand inhabitants. Although the place is in- 
defensible, and at some distance from the highway either 
by land or river, the same proportion of soldiers and police 
appeared to be located there as elsewhere; and the 
handsome cafes and hotels numbered Austrian officers 
among their chief customers. Among the company in 
the steamer was a young and handsome maiden, attired in 
deep mourning, not for her brethren, but for her coun- 
try. The air of dejection by which she was overcast, 
was not peculiar to her. None had espoused the cause 
of their country with greater earnestness than the women 
of Hungary. Almost universally, they assumed the 
sombre funereal garb, as the most appropriate to their 
fallen state. Methought a country had no cause for 
despair, when its women had become so deeply imbued 
with the sentiments of nationality ! 

In entering the town, I accompanied a Honved officer 



CATASTROPHE AT GONYO. 217 

on his return home from Peterwardein. According to 
the terms of the capitulation, he was in full uniform and 
in possession of his arms. As may be supposed, our 
party elicited no little observation in its passage through 
the streets, both from the population and the Austrian 
soldiery. I spent the day at Raab. Notwithstanding 
that it presents little perceptible evidence of private 
enterprise, the town is very substantially built, and is a 
perfect picture of order and cleanliness. The market 
square is adorned by some very handsome and lofty 
buildings ; and the streets in general contrast to advan- 
tage with an English town of the same class. 

On the following morning, I returned to Gonyo. As the 
steamer was not expected until late in the afternoon, I 
had time to inspect the locality, which offered few objects 
of interest. The seat of Count Paul Esterhazy, which 
was now occupied by the Danube Steam Navigation 
Company, is at Gonyo. It reminded me of an English 
mansion of the same class. During the war, the village 
of Gonyo, and the extensive hotel had become the thea- 
tre of a terrible catastrophe. 

Observing the approach of an Austrian flotilla, laden* 
with military stores, Gorgey, who was then posted with 
a large force on the Great Schiitt, summoned it to sur- 
render, as it lay opposite the village. Instead of comply- 
ing with the demand, the crew escaped from the vessels; 
upon which he opened a fire, when they immediately 
exploded, and destroyed every house in the vicinity. 

An engineer was now employed, with a number 01 
men, in raising the vessels, which impeded the navi- 
gation. I had an opportunity, therefore, of comparing 
the relative efficiency of Magyar and English labour; 
and the conclusion to which I came, left us no cause 
for regret. All continental labour is of an inert and 

L 



218 A DANUBE FOG — AUSTRIAN TIMIDITY. 

slovenly character. At Gonyo I met with an Italian 
officer, who enlightened me as to the springs at work 
within the mechanism of that heterogeneous compound, 
the Austrian army. According to the account I gathered 
from him and various other sources, the whole system 
would have fallen piecemeal in the outset, but for the pro- 
mised aid of Russia. That only it was which kept the 
machine in activity. My informant was as opposed to 
the Government as a man could possibly be, and hesitated 
not to tell me so. He carried about him the portrait of 
Kossuth as a talisman ; and when engaged in a secret 
service by the Austrians, had proceeded, on one occasion, 
so far as to shoot a number of them, when they ques- 
tioned him as to his designs. 

The fog having again set in towards evening, the 
arrival of the steamer was again protracted for several 
hours ; and we had no sooner cleared the quay than the 
captain gave the signal to anchor. Of timidity and 
excess of caution, whether by sea or land, the Austrian 
is the personification. Their railways scarcely average 
the speed of an English four-horse coach ; and you can 
never condemn their sailors for precipitancy. No such 
fog would have impeded the progress of an English 
steamer for an hour. Many of the passengers, conscious 
of the probable time of detention, left the vessel, to 
proceed in Magyar waggons to their destination. 

At the expiration of forty hours we proceeded on our 
course, our keel grating every now and then on the 
shallows, and arrived at Presburgh on the day following. 
In a few minutes, I was installed into an apartment at a 
grand and spacious hotel called the Grunnen Baum, in 
the great square. As I bore a number of letters of 
recommendation from my friends at Pesth to the leading 
Magyars of Presburgh, I was received by them with 



PRESBURGH SCLAVONIAN FREE CORPS. 219 

great kindness ; but they implored me not to renew my 
visit, for one of them had only just been released from 
incarceration for suspected disaffection ; and his means 
of support having failed him in the interval, his wife 
and family had been indebted for their support to the 
assistance of friends. The city of Presburgh was 
thronged with visitors at the time of my arrival, in 
consequence of the disbandment of a free corps of 
Sclavonians, which had been raised at the expence of 
a great proprietor. I thought I had never seen a more 
uncouth or grotesque squad of plough-boys. The em- 
ployment of such warriors, on a large scale, would act 
as a preventive to all wars ; for it would simply make 
them ridiculous. The officers were scarcely a whit more 
civilised than their men ; and I could not fail to observe 
that they were in a manner contemned by the officers of 
the army, as much for their offensive and dirty habits at 
table, as for their unsoldier-like bearing. 

I was accosted at dinner by one of the officers I had 
become acquainted with at Comorn ; and through him I 
was introduced to an Irish officer in the Austrian service. 
Our countryman was heartily sick of his false position, 
and fully appreciated my surprise at finding him serving 
in the ranks of despotism. He mentioned that Haynau 
had lately passed through Presburgh on his way to Pesth, 
and had rendered himself generally odious by his un- 
mitigated insolence : not an officer refrained from cha- 
racterising him as he deserved. It appears that there is 
a certain degree of uniformity in the absolutistic system. 
My new acquaintance assured me, that he was at that 
very moment the object of as pertinacious a persecution 
by military spies as ever I could be by the agents of 
the police. Necessity alone induced him to remain. 
In consequence of his deficient income, he could never 



220 IRISH OFFICER IN THE AUSTRIAN SERVICE— -DIGBY. 

have hoped to enter the English service, and he had now, 
therefore, become unfitted for any other career than the 
one he had selected. 

The pay of an Austrian captain scarcely exceeds that 
of a sergeant in the English army; but such is in 
general the cheapness of provisions, that a tolerable 
livelihood is within reach. So great, too, is the prestige 
which attaches itself to the profession, in a country so 
exclusively military, that it secures for itself a position 
superior to its intrinsic worth. 

I had frequently reason to admire the spirit of good- 
fellowship which prevails in every department of the 
service. It is true, that the cavalry officer, there as 
elsewhere, will at times give himself airs of superiority ; 
but in general a spirit of fraternity leavens every gra- 
dation, which is calculated to operate most beneficially 
on the harmonious working of the system. 

Since the death of the gallant Digby, I am happy to 
say Austria no longer counts an English officer in her 
service. The untimely fate of that noble youth has 
been lamented alike by friend and foe. In a sharp 
rencontre at some outpost the Austrians had proved vic- 
torious, and were reluctant to give quarter to their 
Hungarian prisoners. Digby had interposed to rescue 
them from death, and the better to ensure his generous 
mediation, entered an apartment along with them. 
Meanwhile the fortune of the day had been retrieved 
by the Magyars. In ignorance of his humane inter- 
vention, they approached the place and demanded the 
surrender of Digby. On refusing to give up his sword, 
he was shot on the spot. When they had entered the 
room, and heard the tale of his late generous interpo- 
sition, the Magyars burst into tears, and kissing the pros- 
trate corpse, buried it with the usual military honours. 



COMPONENTS OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMY AND NAVY. 221 

Including the Italians, we shall find that the foreign 
officers in the Austrian service somewhat surpass, both 
by their number and respective rank, those of native 
extraction ; if, then, we further subtract the Servians, 
the Croatians, the Dalmatians, the Hungarians, and the 
Bohemians — or, in a word, the people less essentially 
Germanised — we shall find a very small residuum repre- 
senting the interests of Austria proper. To glance for 
a moment at the superior officers — Radetzky is a 
Bohemian ; Nugent, an Irishman ; Welden, a Bavarian ; 
Haynau, a Hessian; D'Aspre, a Neapolitan; Schlick, 
a Hanoverian ; and so forth. The same peculiarity is 
even still more palpable in the navy : the admiral is a 
Dane, and the major part of the officers are Italians, 
Illyrians, or Dalmatians. The people of the German 
provinces, wherein I include the Tyrol, Moravia, Styria, 
and Cariiithia, had recently remonstrated against this 
dangerous policy, and had striven to counteract it. In 
this manner, the seeds of disunion were beginning to 
be sown in the entire corps of officers, and jealousy and 
suspicion already promised to usurp the seat of the old 
freemasonry. Few as they were in number, it could 
not be concealed, that the Irish officers had proved the 
most efficient of any in the service ; still they were the 
objects of jealousy, on account of the critical manner 
in which they spoke of the operations in the field. 
From the lips of my friend, I learnt a true version of 
the manner in which matters had been conducted during 
the war. Guyon he especially singled out, from the 
Hungarian side, as having distinguished himself by the 
manner in which he brought up his corps to action. 

During my residence at Presburgh I made several 
excursions into the country in the vicinity : one along 
the eastern slope of the Jablunka Berg, which is a cele- 



222 FORTRESS AND TOWN OF PRESBURGH. 

brated vine country ; and another to Haimburg, on the 
Danube, the vicinity of which abounds in romantic 
scenery. 

The surface of the Danube above Presburgh is occu- 
pied for some distance by a number of old-fashioned 
water-mills ; and in the centre of its course, at the foot 
of the town, the river is crossed by a rude bridge of 
boats, the delay in moving which one would have sup- 
posed to militate against their retention. 

The fortress of Presburgh is a very massive structure, 
located on the most elevated site of the inhabited part 
of the town ; but it is commanded from the hills in the 
rear. Prom the terraces a magnificent view of the 
town and surrounding country is to be obtained. Some 
years since, the castle was set on fire by an Italian 
regiment, which, disliking the labour of carrying water 
up the steep from the river, thought the destruction of 
the fortress the best and surest means of consummating 
their project. It was now being repaired, and rendered 
defensible. 

The town of Presburgh, which contains a population 
of 45,000 inhabitants, has, within late years, undergone 
very considerable improvements. Though inferior to 
Pesth in grandeur and magnificence, it may claim for 
itself much that Pesth is deficient in. Chief among 
these, are its edifices of great antiquity. Presburgh is, 
essentially, a German, not a Hungarian town. It 
presents, therefore, all the characteristics of a German 
city of the second class ; such, as well-ordered streets 
and squares, a fine promenade, several handsome 
churches, a quaint old stadt-house, and innumerable 
public buildings. Of these, a portion was formerly 
appropriated to the service of the local government of 
Hungary. At the theatre of Presburgh, as at Pesth 
also, I witnessed the performance of several English 



ANXIETY RESPECTING MY CORRESPONDENCE. 223 

pieces, such, for instance, as the plays of Shakespere, 
and a German version of the " Old Curiosity Shop." 

I now became anxious to ascertain whether the cor- 
respondence which I had forwarded to England, since 
my arrival at Semlin, had been intercepted in its 
passage, or had duly reached its destination. To satisfy 
myself in these particulars, it was necessary to proceed 
to Vienna ; for the English papers were then prohibited 
in Hungary, and to proceed to Vienna, was to throw 
myself, for the second time, into the power of Governor 
Welden. Rumour alleged that the state of siege had 
been of late somewhat relaxed, whence, it naturally- 
occurred to me that the regulation which prescribed the 
delivery of passports at the railway station might have 
been equally dispensed with. Such, too, appeared to be 
the general opinion of my friends, but, to make myself 
as safe as possible, I wrote to the agent of the journal 
for which I acted, at Vienna, in order to ascertain the 
precise state of the case. His reply comprised a 
solution to every query but the essential one ; still, I 
was unwilling to incur farther delay. Having, there- 
fore, first procured a vise for Vienna from the police, 
I left my baggage at the hotel, and started on my 
journey on the following morning. The railway between 
the two places traverses several long tunnels in emerging 
from Presburgh, and at the Hungarian frontier it 
merges into the Great Northern line, leading to 
Prague and Olmutz. Owing to some mal-arrangement 
we had three hours to wait for the down train. What 
with the long distance we had taken to join the Prague 
line; what with our tardy progress, and the three 
hours' stoppage, the distance of forty -three miles was 
practically greater than that from London to Liverpool. 
In traversing Moravia, we passed the great battle- 



224 PROCEED TO VIENNA IN CONSEQUENCE. 

field of Wagram, and other places of historic interest. 
No sooner had we arrived at the Vienna Railway 
terminus; than my worst fears were realised, by the 
approach of an officer of the police,, who politely 
demanded my passport. To aggravate my position, he 
informed me that I must apply for it in person, at the 
Stadthauptmannschaft ; nor did the announcement of 
my intended return, by the night train, to Presburgh, 
weigh with him for an instant. It was necessary, 
therefore, to prepare myself for a new and unforeseen 
danger. 

After accomplishing the primary object of my visit, 
my next step was to seek out the American Consul, to 
whom I had brought a letter of recommendation from 
England, and to request his advice in the emergency. 
M. Schwartz is an Austrian subject, and so staunch a 
a believer in Metternich, as to scout men and things 
out of the absolutistic pale ; yet, as the representative 
of a republic, he deemed it only consistent with his 
duty to assist me as far as he was legally able, and 
commenced, by assuring me that I had placed myself 
in an apparently inextricable dilemma. No time was, 
however, to be lost ; so he proposed that we should 
proceed in search of a person whom he indicated as 
the most likely to rescue me from the consequences of 
my temerity. As it happened, he was not to be found, 
now that his presence was indispensable. My worthy 
friend was fain, therefore, to advise me, as a sort of 
forlorn hope, to venture in person, as best I could, 
through the dreaded ordeal ; and held out a chance of 
my escape, in consequence of a change of the officials 
since my late deportation from Vienna. 

No other alternative presented itself. I followed his 
advice, and entered the bureau of foreign passports. 



SCENE AT THE STADTHAUPTMANNSCHAFT. 225 

Once within doors, I was immediately recognised ; and 
no sooner was that the case, than the loud exclamations 
of the chief and his subordinates attracted round me a 
crowd of officials, some gesticulating vehemently, others 
shouting, some dancing in their joy — all indulging in 
one sort of pantomime or other. As soon as order had 
resumed its sway, one of the Chefs de Bureau was sent 
to Welden to receive instructions as to my disposal. 
The officer, on whom it had devolved to conduct me to 
Scharding, re-appeared on the scene, to ask me, in his 
gentle English, "to wait a little bit/' and the group of 
functionaries aforesaid had formed themselves into a 
circle, and were probably canvassing the media through 
which I had so unexpectedly reappeared on the stage. 
I had seated myself on a chair at no great distance 
from the door, and lost no time in weighing in my 
mind the various contingencies of remaining or escaping. 
An instant decision one way or the other was indis- 
pensable. The chief would return in ten minutes 
with orders for my incarceration. Moreover, Lord 
Ponsonby was ignorant of my arrival, and the cir- 
cumstance might suggest itself to them in dealing with 
my personal liberty. For the last three or four 
minutes I had noticed that the circle above me was too 
absorbed with astonishment at my audacity to con- 
template the subject of it. I had no yearning for the 
portals of Spilberg. I had no faith in Welden' s mode- 
ration or humanity. To beat a retreat would com- 
promise my dignity ; but my liberty was too precious 
to permit me to indulge in any such sentimentalism. 
I rose quietly and backed towards the door unobserved, 
lifted noiselessly the latch, darted down the stairs, and 
had rushed past the three sentinels in the court, before 
the officials could rouse themselves from their stupor of 

l5 



226 SUSPENSE RESOLVE OF WELDEN, HOW FRUSTRATED. 

bewilderment. In making my exit at the outer gate, I 
just caught the sound of " Wait a little bit/' as it was 
repeated from the top of the stairs by my conductor 
de la vieille ; then threading the labyrinth of streets in 
the vicinity, so as to baffle pursuit, I ultimately arrived 
out of breath at the British Embassy. 

Lord Ponsonby did not appear, until I had recovered 
myself sufficiently to explain the occasion of my 
unexpected visit. He recommended me to betake 
myself to some quiet retreat in the Faubourgs, and to 
call upon him at noon on the following day. In the 
mean time he promised to write to Marshal Welden, 
and endeavour to obtain for me something like terms. 
I called, as he requested, on the morrow; but he had 
received no reply. Four days had passed with the 
same result. I had come up to Vienna with the 
intention of returning to Presburgh the same evening. 
I had brought, therefore, neither a change of linen 
nor even the requisite funds. I found it necessary to 
change my hotel every night. On the fifth day his 
Lordship received a letter from Prince Schwarzenberg, 
in which he intimated, that he had accidentally met 
Marshal Welden on his return from Schonbrun, 
whither he had betaken himself to lay the matter 
before the Emperor, and take his pleasure as to my 
fate ; that the Marshal had resolved to detain me for 
two years in a fortress, but that he had takeu the case 
out of his hands, and would now communicate his 
decision, which was to the effect that I must, as soon 
as possible, quit the country, either by Trieste or 
Scharding; that I could not be allowed to return 
into Hungary, and that I must surrender myself to 
the Police, and remain in prison until my luggage should 
arrive. He added that the government had received 



PROPOSE A CONFERENCE WITH A POLICE AGENT. 227 

• 

information, on which they could rely, that I had 
come up to Vienna, in defiance of the order of Marshal 
Welden, with the view of exciting an insurrection in 
that capital ; and that they had positive proofs of my 
having formed a design for gaining over the Hungarian 
regiments in Italy by means of the non-commissioned 
officers. 

I shall not insult the understanding of my readers 
by attempting to expatiate upon the grounds of this 
senseless calumny, but shall proceed to observe that 
having in the interval obtained a loan from a friend, 
sufficient to relieve any temporary anxiety as to the 
means of subsistence, I was not quite so willing to 
accept, as Messrs. Magenis and Grey were to urge, my 
instant compliance with the edict which consigned me, 
as indifferently as a bale of goods, first to prison, and 
then to deportation. Before accepting the passport, 
therefore, which they proffered, I addressed a letter 
to Baron Werner, requesting a modification of the 
terms. Not meeting with a satisfactory reply, and Mr. 
Grey having threatened to make a communication to 
the police, amounting to a repudiation of protection, 
I resolved to trust for once to the honour of the officials, 
and proposed a conference with M. Brodie, with the 
provision that I should be at liberty to depart whither- 
soever I should please, in case his proposals were 
unsatisfactory. At the appointed place of meeting 
I was accosted by my old companion, who inquired 
if I had any objection to accompany him to the 
Stadthauptmannschaft. "None whatever/' was my 
reply, " if I may trust to the honour of the bureau." 
" I will give you an assurance on that point," said he. 
On my arrival, I was questioned as to the hotels at 
which I had taken up my residence during the week, 



228 EVASION OF HIS PLEDGE THE POLIZEI HOUSE. 

in order tliat the proprietors miglit be punished for 
their non-compliance with the police regulations. 
Unwilling to compromise any person by an indiscreet 
avowal, I refused acceding to the request of the Com- 
missioner; upon which he immediately informed me 
that I was under arrest, and ordered my removal to the 
Polizei house. On the way I recollected I had two 
small but dangerous letters in my pocket ; these I 
now pushed up the finger of one of my gloves. I had no 
sooner entered the prison than I was searched, and among 
other articles, the gloves in question were retained. 
I had kept the letters more as a souvenir than for any 
other and more cogent purpose. Conceive my surprise, 
therefore, when on the termination of my imprisonment, 
I discovered that the treasonable documents had re- 
mained secure all along in their repository. 

An inspection of the dungeon to which I was con- 
signed by no means reassured me. It was a small and 
miserable apartment, devoid of all furniture, with the 
exception of a bed, and the prospect of solitary con- 
finement in such a cell seemed only to aggravate the 
calamity. Within the last few days, winter had 
set in with excessive severity. Snow had already 
fallen to the depth of several feet, and the Bohemian 
turnkey could offer me no hope of the arrival of my 
luggage until it had disappeared. " The government has 
ordered, however, Sir, that you are to be treated as a 
state prisoner of the first class ; and you are to be allowed 
five florins (ten shillings) a day, at the expense of the 
country." 

We shall soon discover how this, like all other 
Austrian pledges, was fulfilled. After the lapse of 
two or three days, I was, at my own request, removed 
into a larger room, which I was destined to share with 



VIENNA STUDENTS TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 229 

two other political offenders, students of the University. 
The elder was undergoing a lengthened imprisonment 
for the part he had taken in the insurrection ; the 
younger, for having been overheard by a spy, calling the 
Kaiser a spitzbube, i. e. a fool. For that unpardonable 
offence he was condemned to suffer a year's imprison- 
ment, and then to serve for three years in the army as 
a common soldier. Yet the Austrian has been called a 
paternal government. 

The habits of my companions were not such as to 
impress me with their attention to cleanliness or good 
breeding. Everywhere the floor bore evidence of the 
impartial measure with which their saliva had been 
meted out over its whole surface, and their over pre- 
dilection for Meine Vaterland rendered their presence 
eventually wearisome. To the first infliction I was 
resolved not to submit in silence, and finding that no 
attention was paid to a verbal remonstrance, I inti- 
mated that another infraction of the rules of decency 
would subject the offenders to unpleasant consequences. 
The annoyance ceased from that moment ; for the 
physical superiority of an Englishman is everywhere 
uncontested on the continent. 

The mode in which the Austrians are accustomed to 
treat prisoners committed for larceny is very repre- 
hensible. Several criminals of that class were employed 
in waiting upon us, or performing other in-door labour. 
Yet their ancles were manacled with heavy irons, such 
as we only place on the most desperate of convicts, and 
grated sadly on the ear, as they rattled at every move- 
ment along the whole corridor. 

A fortnight elapsed ere my luggage arrived, when one 
of the subordinates of the department called to an- 
nounce the fact. I inquired if my luggage had been 



230 WARNUNG — POLICE MORALITY. 

submitted to any search. He replied in the negative ; 
but I inferred, from his manner, and the circumstances 
which subsequently transpired, that his veracity was 
not altogether to be depended upon. At length I was 
summoned to the office of the commissioner of police, 
to hear a notice, or warnung read, by the terms of which 
I was to be interdicted from ever again entering the 
Austrian territory, under pain of twenty years' impri- 
sonment. I could not refrain from smiling at the sin- 
gular phraseology in which it was couched. It being 
understood that I was a member of the legal profession, 
I was styled, by the framer of the document, neither 
more nor less than Attorney- General of England. 
After the warnung had been read and witnessed by a 
number of the clerks, I was requested to sign it ; but 
to this I demurred, on the ground that I was not a free 
agent. So the paper was carried to the record office, 
to be stored among the other archives, until another 
revolution drags it from its receptacle. 

The same morning Lord Ponsonby sent his secre- 
tary to inquire if he could be of any service. That 
gentleman intimated that the commissioner had in- 
formed him, in a recent conversation, that my letters to 
England had all been opened, and that they were found 
to be of so sanguinary a character, as to be sufficient, in 
themselves, to kindle a war between the two countries. 
I was naturally indignant under so unwarrantable an im- 
putation, and could not refrain from taxing the com- 
missioner with his breach of faith. "Whereupon, to 
our surprise, he called God to witness that he had not 
only not been privy to the opening of my correspondence, 
but that he was, at that moment, ignorant of the fact of 
its violation, and denied having made any such commu- 



AM SENT UNDER ESCORT TO TRIESTE. 213 

nication to my informant. So unblushing a falsehood 
could hardly enter into the conception of an officer of 
similar rank in our own country, but the whole gang 
employed in ferreting out political offenders, were, with 
an exception or two, a broken-down-tradesman sort of 
looking persons, who, in assuming an odious profession, 
to save themselves from penury, scrupled at nothing to 
render themselves acceptable to their employers. 

I was now sent down, under escort, to Trieste. At 
Gloggnitz we descended from the carriages, took our 
seats in omnibuses for Murzuschlag, where the line 
recommences. The intermediate country is very diffi- 
cult, and has already taxed the skill and energy of a 
large body of engineers, miners, and labourers, for 
several years. Between Murzuschlag and Gratz the 
line follows the course of the Mur, and maintains it 
until that river assumes an easterly course. A short 
interval of cutting then succeeds until the road opens 
upon the valley of the Drave, and one of its tributa- 
ries. A little further excavation brings it to the valley 
of the Save, which it follows to Laybach. There the 
most arduous portion of the great undertaking com- 
mences, and there the traveller resumes the more 
homely diligence. The soil being volcanic, and, in many 
parts, cavernous, doubts will always be entertained of 
the security of such a foundation. Whether the line, 
as a whole, will ever return interest for the capital sunk 
upon it, will for years remain a problem. The number 
of passengers is very considerable; but it should be 
taken into consideration that the opportunities of transit 
are limited to two trains per day. The transport of 
goods is of a very insignificant character, and is not 
likely to increase very materially. Gratz is the chief 



232 BUREAUCRATIC BREACH OF FAITH. 

city between the termini ; and, from the beauty of the 
locality, Gratz is much frequented by pleasure-seekers. 
The railway station, is, therefore, very extensive and 
magnificent ; and the town equally picturesque and 
pleasing. One of its principal features is the old castle, 
beautifully situated on an elevated mound, rising natu- 
rally from the plain. Gratz numbers among its attrac- 
tions several handsome squares, streets, and public 
buildings; the population, too, is rapidly on the in- 
crease. The only other places, of any note, on the 
route, are Marburgh, Cilli, and Laybach. As a whole, 
perhaps, the valley of the Save is one of the most 
picturesque in Europe as yet traversed by a railway. 
The whole road, moreover, is enlivened by a variety of 
natural wonders, such as the traveller seldom meets 
with by that mode of transit. 

On arriving at Trieste, I was permitted to take up 
my quarters at the National Hotel, until the departure 
of the steamer. I had remained there a day, when I 
received an order to appear before the Commissioner of 
Police. That functionary read me a dispatch from 
Vienna, by which he was directed to deduct my travel- 
ling and prison expenses from the sum found in my 
possession; notwithstanding the assurance which had 
been given me at Vienna, that as a State prisoner, T 
should receive a daily allowance from the government. 
Upon an examination of the items, I found myself not 
only tricked in the manner described, but defrauded, in 
addition, by the functionaries of the prison; so that the 
balance was insufficient to cover the cost of my passage 
to Corfu. The Commissioner affected to sympathise 
with my indignation at the unworthy manoeuvre ; but 
he intimated, that I must find some means of getting 



A FRIEND IN NEED — POLICE CHAGRIN. 233 

away, since the government had issued peremptory 
orders for my imprisonment, in case I should fail to 
embark by the next steamer. I thought I traced a 
deep laid design for carrying into effect, at Trieste, what 
was not to be realised at Vienna, and set myself to 
work to discover a means of extrication. I was the 
bearer of a letter to an English merchant connected 
with the Austrian Lloyd's. No sooner had I mentioned 
the circumstances in which I was placed to him, than, 
in the most handsome manner, he spontaneously offered 
to relieve me from the difficulty. I afterwards under- 
stood, and I think it right to mention it as a proof 
of his benevolence, that Lord Ponsonby, anticipating 
the design of the Austrians, had given instructions to 
the Vice-Consul to furnish me with whatever sum I 
might require ; but as I was not then made aware of the 
fact, I did not broach the matter to that functionary, 
and the circumstance did not then transpire. 

The police at Trieste appeared as chagrined as their 
superiors at Vienna at the manner in which I had suc- 
ceeded in outwitting them on the various occasions I 
have described, and now bestowed no slight pains to 
conciliate me, in the hope of eliciting the mode in which 
I had operated with such success. I was afterwards 
informed that the Imperial government had particularly 
enjoined upon them, to obtain by some means or other, 
possession of the secret relating to my re-appearance on 
Austrian soil; but as their conduct after my deport- 
ation to Scharding, had not been such as to merit 
any such indulgence, I forbore from satisfying their 
curiosity. A gentleman mutually acquainted with my- 
self and the Commissioner of Police, communicated to 
me a detailed account of the system of espionage pur- 



234 ESPIONAGE AT TRIESTE. 

sued in my regard during my brief residence at Trieste. 
It was minute even to absurdity. Any change in my 
dress ; any peculiarity of manner ; what I had eaten at 
the several meals ; to whom I had been seen speaking ; 
where I had called ; and, in short, the most insignificant 
of my movements had been duly recorded by my inde- 
fatigable observer. 



235 



CHAPTER VII. 

Embark for Greece and the Ionian Islands, via Ancona and 
Brindisi.— Local Wind in the Gulf of Trieste. — A slight Swell 
causes the Captain to put in at Ancona for two Days. — Timidity 
of Austrian Sailors — Description of Ancona. — Effects of a 
Papal Eegimen. — Fracas between the Frolic Brig and an Austrian 
Frigate. — Brindisi and the Neapolitan Coast. — Arrival at Corfu 
— the Blockade of the Greek Ports. — Capture of Greek Men-of- 
war. — Dine on board one of them in the Harbour of Corfu. — 

. . Proceed to Cephalonia. — My Attention is called to an Adver- 
tisement in the Osservatore Triestino, issued by Haynau, in 
which 5,000 Florins is offered for my Apprehension. — Cause of 
Haynau's needless Alarm. — Proceed- to Patras. — Adventure at 
a Cafe. — Description of the Town and its Environs. — British 
and Ionian Fugitives. — Anniversary of Greek Independence. — 
Conduct of Otho, and the Policy of the Government. — Depart 
for Athens. — Scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto. — Yostizza. 
— Leutraki. — Calimaki. — Corinth. — Salamis Bay, and the 
Blockading Squadron. — Landing at the Piraeus. — Foreign 
Squadrons. — Athens. — Political Parties. — Opinion of Foreigners 
as to the Enforcement of British Bights. — Excursions into the 
Country Districts of Attica. — The Plain of Athens. — A Bavarian 
Colony. — The Boyal Palace and the Souvenirs of the Greek 
Struggle. — The Greek Army.— The Kiug. — Hungarian Befugees. 
Proceed to Syra in the iEgean. — Anomalous Character of the 
City. — Greek Maritime Enterprise,— The Cyclades. — Scio — 
Vourla Bay. — Smyrna — Its Aspect from the Water. — Pecu- 
liarities of the Place. — The Surrounding Country. — Departure 
for Constantinople. — The Countess Guyon. — Mitylene. — Te- 
nedos. — Distant Views of Mounts Athos and Olympus. — Ida. — 
The Dardanelles and its Castles. — Gallipoli. — The Sea of Mar- 



Every preliminary having been completed, I embarked 
on board one of the line of steamers plying between 
Trieste and Calimachi, and which call at Ancona and 



236 LOCAL WIND AUSTRIAN SEAMANSHIP. 

Brindisi, on their way. On resigning his charge, my 
good-humoured conductor remarked to the captain, 
that he had a passenger on board who had wielded a 
strong pen, from which the Government had sustained 
much damage, and he hoped he would give him no 
occasion to call it into requisition, in reference to his 
entertainment on board. 

What is called at Trieste a bora prevailed at the 
moment of our departure; it is a cold biting local 
wind, frequently dangerous to vessels exposed to its 
more violent paroxysms. Happily we were soon removed 
out of the range of its influence ; but upon nearing the 
Italian coast, we found a heavyish swell running, which 
our timid captain showed little disposition to encounter. 
The pedantry and centralising spirit of the Austrian 
bureaucracy has extended even to the maritime service, 
so far as to thwart or confine with every species of 
restriction, anything like seamanship on the part of the 
employes. A series of rules, from which no departure 
is allowed, render science, judgment, and skill, so many 
superfluous qualities. Exceptions will be found to every 
rule. Wherever you find an experienced English engi- 
neer in foreign service, you will notice that he requires 
a large amount of latitude, and will take it. If the 
captain supports him, a happy conformity of system is 
soon apparent in the confidence of the passengers and 
crew. In this instance, a distrust of our commander 
seemed to be entertained by all alike ; when, therefore, 
we found ourselves snugly ensconced within the harbour 
of Ancona, we felt that we had heen relieved from what 
was, under such guidance, no imaginary peril. 

The weather having become caitiff, to employ the 
Italian expression, we remained two days at Ancona, 
and not only found leisure to inspect everything worthy 



ANCONA AND ITS ECCLESIASTICAL NIGHTMARE. 237 

of notice in the town, but to undertake an excursion 
into the country. It may be laid down as an axiom, to 
which not even Belgium affords, in every particular, an 
exception, that countries suhject to the sway of the 
Papacy, are lost in filth, neglect, and decay. Ancona, 
perhaps, is about the truest picture of squalor and 
brutality the human eye could light upon. How 
Turkey should have appropriated to herself the exclusive 
honour of wafting the plague and pestilence into 
Western Europe, must, after an inspection of Ancona, 
appear a marvel. The very harbour is a reeking mass of 
noxious feculence, amply sufficient to poison the whole 
continent. Among the sights of Ancona are Trajan's 
arch — a plagiarised version of which we possess in the 
metropolis, and which has of late been rendered further 
remarkable, from its having lost its key-stone ; the cathe- 
dral, constructed during the Byzantine era ; the fortress, 
erected on a hill which commands the city; and the 
Roman aqueduct, the walls, and other ruins. Some of 
the latter are, of their kind, exquisite specimens of 
workmanship; and after a lapse of fifteen hundred years 
seem as perfect as on the day of their foundation. 

Like all Italian towns, everything yields precedence 
to ecclesiastical supremacy. It is needless to add, there 
are more churches than there are congregations — more 
priests than there are communicants — more unbelievers 
than devotees. The people of the Romish states have 
come by degrees to regard the priesthood as the incar- 
nation of every vice that can pollute humanity. Enter 
a church at Ancona at the hour when the multitude are 
wont, in other countries, to flock to those receptacles of 
superstition, and what do you find ? Probably twenty 
aged or infirm persons, bereft of the strength of mind 
which could alone avail them to withstand the sapping 



238 REVOLUTION IN THE ITALIAN MIND. 

and insidious schemes of a wily priesthood. Some 
stress has of late been laid upon secessions from the 
Romish church in Ireland ; but that movement, how- 
ever encouraging, becomes insignificant in comparison 
with the mighty current of liberal ideas now pervading 
the Italian mind. 

To reach the fortress of Ancona, a long and tedious 
ascent is necessary : the walls, in which the Austrians 
had succeeded in effecting several breaches, were still 
out of repair, but were, nevertheless, garrisoned by two 
or three regiments of Croats. From the keep, an ex- 
cellent view of the Appenines and surrounding country 
may be obtained. The country in the vicinity of An- 
cona is very picturesque, fertile, and populous, yet a 
curse withers every branch of industry ; and the whole 
scene impressed our party as a living type of misery and 
desolation. Having partaken of an excellent breakfast 
at the hotel, in company with the Honourable Mr. 

C , and the Honourable Mr. P , we returned 

to the vessel to dinner. "We now began to feel uneasy 
at our unlooked-for detention, and to insinuate to the 
captain that his over-caution was justified neither by 
the state of the weather, nor the appearance of the sea 
outside. 

Ancona is not without its fine edifices and public 
works. The exchange, filled with tasteless portraits of 
successive Popes, the Lazaretto, Roman pier and streets, 
attest its rank as the Liverpool of the States of the 
Church. A large number of vessels are employed in 
the fishery, and several local manufactures — such as 
rope-yards and maccaroni factories — though now on 
the wane, somewhat serve to indicate former prosperity. 
Next day, after dinner, we again hinted to the captain 
that an English sailor would discover no impediment 



THE FROLIC BRIG AND AN AUSTRIAN FRIGATE, 239 

to proceeding under similar circumstances, and worried 
him so far effectually, that he engaged to weigh anchor 
in the evening, providing the weather remained favour- 
able. He kept his word, and ere the morning of the 
morrow had dawned, we were lying within the long 
and narrow harbour of Brindisi. Among the addi- 
tional company we had taken on board at Ancona, was 
a French officer on furlough, from the army at Rome, 
who, from his short-necked, corpulent person, and 
plethoric and bloated appearance, furnished the spec- 
tator with momentary cause of alarm, lest he should be 
seized with an apoplectic fit. 

Previously to our arrival at Ancona, the unauthorised 
detention of an English merchantman by an Austrian 
frigate, had served to test the metal of the Austrian 
navy. No sooner had Captain Vansittart, of the 
brig Frolic, become advised of the outrage by the 
British Consul at Ancona, than he immediately sailed 
in quest of the offender, and came up with him, while 
in the act of bearing the ship in tow. It required no 
small degree of daring to send a peremptory message, 
demanding her instant release; for two of the ship's 
boats, together with the lieutenants and men, had gone 
ashore, so that his crew was considerably short of its 
complement. The Austrian commander, aware of the 
circumstance, hesitated not to return as peremptory a 
refusal. Thereupon, the captain gave orders to pipe to 
quarters, and prepare for action. Once more he sent a 
message to warn the Austrian, that, unless he yielded 
up his prize within twenty minutes, he would fire 
upon him. Just before the expiration of the allotted 
period, the enemy cut her adrift, and abandoned her. 
We did not land at Brindisi. From the harbour, the 
appearance of the town is very striking ; yet the same 



240 BRIND1SI CORFU AND GREEK PRIZES. 

squalor and misery, as we had noticed at Ancona, would 
have probably greeted us, in case we had set foot on 
shore. The fort, which is in an indifferent state of repair, 
lies on an islet in the middle of the harbour. After 
taking in a quantity of figs for shipment to England 
via Corfu, we proceeded on our course direct for that 
island, the captain having at length ceased to conjure up 
visions of treachery on the part of the " mare perfidum" 
of the Roman bard. 

After getting into mid-channel, we could clearly 
descry the Castle of Otranto on one side of the channel, 
and the Acroceraunian range on the other. We did 
not reach Corfu until the evening. It is not my inten- 
tion to furnish the reader with a narrative of my pro- 
ceedings in the Ionian Islands, for it will shortly appear 
in another shape. 

The blockade of the Greek ports commenced soon 
after my arrival at Corfu, and naturally gave rise to 
strong feelings of excitement in all the islands. One 
after another of the mimic navy of Otho were brought 
in by our cruisers, and made to anchor in the dock, just 
under the guns of the principal fort. An invitation to 
lunch on board one of the larger prizes by an officer of 
H.M.S. Rosamond, who was placed in charge of her, 
gave me an opportunity of scrutinizing the efficiency of 
the Greek marine. With one or two exceptions, the 
officers had taken the seizure of their vessels as a per- 
sonal affront, and refrained from holding any commu- 
nication with their British guardians. Judging from 
appearances, the prizes were scarcely worth the trouble 
and expense of a removal; most of them would have 
been long since condemned by our Admiralty as no 
longer seaworthy. The stench emitted from the boxes, 
called by courtesy cabins, was almost insupportable. 



HAYNAU OFFERS A REWARD FOR MY ARREST. 241 

How the health of the crew could be maintained, under 
the influence of so noxious an atmosphere, was mar- 
vellous to us all. 

After a considerable stay at Corfu, I proceeded to 
Cephalonia and the other islands. Whether my dis- 
appearance from Corfu had aroused the suspicions of 
the Austrian consul, or whether the Austrian Govern- 
ment had received false information as to my designs, 
I cannot even at this time say ; but on chancing to take 
up a number of the Osservatore Triestino, I was startled 
by seeing my own name emblazoned in large characters, 
in a proclamation issued by Haynau, as Governor 
of Hungary, with a reward of 5,000 florins offered for 
my apprehension. The alleged motive of this hue and 
cry was the report of my being concealed in Transyl- 
vania ; but it might possibly have been resorted to with 
a view of preventing any further attempt of mine to 
effect an entrance into the country. 

After a minute inspection of the Ionian Islands, I pro- 
ceeded to Patras, which I found blockaded by H.M.S. 
Growle?\ Notwithstanding that the excitement occa- 
sioned by the forcible detention of the Greek marine 
had somewhat subsided, considerable irritation still pre- 
vailed, and it was judged imprudent by our countrymen 
of every class to stray beyond the precincts of the city. 
A trifling incident, in which I was personally concerned, 
revealed the necessity of caution. On my return from 
visiting the remains of the magnificent Roman aque- 
duct, by which the ancient town of Patrse was supplied 
with water, I chanced to pass a small cafe in the suburbs, 
and requested the waiter to bring me a cup of coffee. 
Instead of obeying the order, he ran in and related to the 
company within that there was an Englishman outside, 
upon which they all rushed out, and eyeing me in a 

M 



242 PROCEED TO PATRAS. ADVENTURE AT A CAFE. 

savage manner, vociferated 6%a) cr^We I<y<y\r)arifce (efco, 
kvcov Iy<y\r)0"iK€) . Any symptom of alarm might have 
tended to encourage personal violence; I remained, 
therefore, in my place, and continued to smoke my 
cigar, in apparent ignorance of the meaning of their 
abuse, until, perceiving it was not their intention to 
serve me, I departed without molestation. 

Whatever might be the sentiments of the people of 
the town, I felt convinced that they had taken little or 
no root among the population of the country, and hesi- 
tated not to walk unaccompanied to the castle of the 
Morea, about five miles distant from the city. The 
fortress is reached by a road across the plain. However 
strong its defences may have originally been, they are 
now in so tottering a condition as to be unable, appa- 
rently, to resist a ten minutes' bombardment. The 
officer on duty was no less surprised than his men to 
receive the visit of an Englishmen at such a juncture; 
but he was none the less polite, and readily allowed me 
to fulfil the object of my mission. Directly opposite to 
the castle of the Morea, lies the castle of Roumelia, in 
which a company of troops were also stationed. On my 
return to Patras, I found that the heavy rain, which had 
fallen during the day without intermission, had caused 
a mountain-torrent, intersecting my road, to swell 
to an unlooked-for extent. To make the matter worse, 
the shepherds, who were endeavouring to restrain its 
irruption into their cottages and grounds, were unwil- 
ling, in spite of all my offers of remuneration, to carry 
me over on their backs. I was obliged, in consequence, 
to resort to all sorts of expedients to cross its numerous 
channels. 

The town of Patras is more interesting to the 
traveller, from the reminiscences with which the older 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS. 243 

inhabitants can furnish him of its past appearance, and 
from the prospect of what it may eventually become, 
than from what it now is. Unpaved, unlighted, devoid 
of sewerage — devoid, in point of fact, of all the elements 
of comfort, which are held essential to civilised life in a 
large community ; not all its increasing commerce, nor 
the awakened energies of its people, can save it from 
creating an unfavourable impression on the opinion of a 
stranger. Moreover, though Patras can boast of its nu- 
merous and spacious mansions, and of its increase both in 
wealth andpopulation, it can also unfold to our view many 
of the most squalid and abject abodes of human misery. 
The forlorn and beggarly appearance of the Greek 
troops, who retain in this place the striking, but by 
no means martial, costume of their country, together 
with the wild, tattered, and hideous-looking beings who 
flock from the rural districts to the town to dispose of 
their produce, help, when combined, to yield an im- 
pression of one's having suddenly alighted upon an 
improved Indian settlement in the States, rather than 
the second city of Modern Greece. 

The western portion of the Morea was scourged 
during the period of my stay, by bands of marauders 
of the most ferocious character. On one occasion, when 
I had wandered towards the castle of Clarenza, I was 
warned of the danger I incurred in venturing without 
protection, by a party of Cephalonian peasantry em- 
ployed in a vineyard near the road. 

The anniversary of the Greek Revolution occurred 
during my visit to Patras. A grand illumination, ac- 
companied by a display of the pyrotechnic art, for which 
the Greeks still remain famous, took place on the occa- 
sion. Commander Stoddart, with that good feeling 
which in a few days had won for him the esteem of all 



244 ANNIVERSARY OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE. 

the inhabitants, lent himself and her Majesty's ship 
" Growler" to the celebration, and the fete passed off 
with great eclat. Yet, with all the exultation of the 
moment, the Greeks could not regard the prospects 
of their country without mingled feelings of trepidation 
and suspicion of the freedom they had nominally won, 
they were obliged, at this very juncture, to witness 
themselves baulked the moment they attempted its 
exercise. The approach of the elections developed the 
incompatible action of a free legislature, and a self- 
willed and despotically disposed monarch. The opposi- 
tion candidates were subjected to a surveillance more 
akin to that prevailing in enslaved Austria than in a 
country which had won a charter of rights from its 
Sovereign. Wherever they made the attempt to canvass 
their constituencies, whether in town or country, they 
were invariably frustrated in their aims by the gendar- 
merie ; while their rivals were free to roam about the 
country at their discretion, and boast with effrontery of 
the effective means adopted to stifle the public voice. The 
amount to which peculation and the mal-appropriation 
of the public money is to this day carried, considering 
the slender resources of the country, would, to an Eng- 
lishman, appear incredible on paper, unless he had been 
an eye-witness of their credibility. Patras is one of the 
largest sufferers from these glaring frauds. Local duties 
are there professedly levied for specific objects, such as 
the improvement of the town, or of the roads in the 
vicinity; but the money is abstracted by the employes 
with an unblushing effrontery, without a parallel in the 
annals of official malversation ; and the principal street 
of Patras was impracticable for a carriage at the time of 
my visit. The king, to all appearance, the dupe of a 
party, or, according to some, an accomplice in the 



OTHO AND POLICY OF HIS GOVERNMENT. 245 

system, has never at any time interposed his authority 
to reform abuses. The dilapidation of the finances, the 
plunder of the foreign creditor, and the increase of 
brigandage and piracy, are matters of small moment 
compared with the unlimited exercise of the royal pre- 
rogatives, and the advancement of regal favourites. 
No wonder, then, that unhappy Greece suffers under a 
chronic stagnation, and sighs for change from whatever 
quarter it may arrive. Such a result is inherent in her 
system of administration; and springs, not as some 
would have us suppose, from the conflicts of parties. 

What with the hospitality of the officers of the 
Growler, and the kindness of the consuls, both of whom 
enjoy the same Christian and surname, without bearing 
the slightest relationship to each other, the time hung 
anything but heavily on my hands. The Consul, 
Mr. Thomas Wood, senior, is Consul-general of Greece ; 
the Vice-consul, Mr. Thomas Wood, junior, is a partner 
in the firm of Barfe and Hancock, and manager of the 
branch of the Ionian bank established in Patras. Both 
are in the highest degree efficient public servants, and 
contrast most favourably with many of our consular 
officers in Eastern Europe. 

After a stay of some days, the Archiduco Frederico 
appeared off the harbour, and I embarked in her, in 
company with my landlord, for Athens. Good-natured 
and obliging as was the last-named personage, he was 
reported to harbour some very questionable characters ; 
and, like many other persons in Patras, to take advan- 
tage of the fears and ignorance displayed by British and 
Ionian fugitives on their first landing on Greek soil. 
While at Zante, I had been apprised by the officers of 
the force stationed in that island, of the desertion of an 
English sergeant, who had carried off with him several 



246 BRITISH AND IONIAN FUGITIVES. 

stand of arms. There being little or no distinction of 
rank at Patras, I was destined to encounter him in the 
coffee-room of the hotel on the day of my arrival. At 
first he regarded me with suspicion, which became, 
however, relaxed as soon as he discovered that my busi- 
ness had nothing in connexion with himself, when he 
offered to assist me in effecting the repair of an article I 
had broken. I was curious to learn the moral effect pro- 
duced by the desertion of a steady calling for that of a 
speculative one, and followed him to the shop which he 
had stocked with his plunder. The result was just what 
might have been expected. The man had commenced 
his career by marrying a Greek. She appeared doat- 
ingly attached to him ; but the apparent frivolity and 
vanity of her character rendered her by no means 
adapted to make an Englishman comfortable. Although 
his calling was at a premium in Patras, and the place 
famished scope for an ample livelihood, remorse had 
got possession of him, and was depicted in the very 
expression of his features. I felt satisfied that he was 
already a ruined man. As a proof of his recklessness, I 
may mention that he had actually ventured on board of 
the mail steamer, and H.M.S. Growler, by either of which 
he might have been re-consigned, in a few hours, to the 
island from whence he had eloped. British, Italian, and 
Ionian malefactors of every class are accustomed to 
flock for refuge to Patras ; the place is not, therefore, 
particularly safe for the traveller, moreover, none of the 
hotels offer him cheap or tolerable accommodation. 

During the seasons when the vine is being hoed, and 
the vintage gathered and prepared for shipment, Patras 
is much frequented by strangers ; in the former case, 
by the people from the isles, more particularly by the 
Cephalonians ; during the latter period, by the foreign 



SCENERY OF THE GULF OF LEPANTO. 247 

merchants, many of whom, while keeping up a per- 
manent establishment there, only visit it at that period. 
Prom the roads, Patras has a striking appearance. Its 
ancient castle, built by the Venetians, but now in ruins, 
is seen from thence to considerable advantage. Never- 
theless, a stay of five minutes on shore is sufficient to 
dissipate the illusion. After proceeding a short distance 
beyond the castles of the Morea and Roumelia, you turn 
the angle, on which the castle of Lepanto is situated, and 
issue from the gulf of Patras into that of Lepanto. 
The modern town is very prettily situated on the margin 
of the gulf, below the ruined castle, which is now unser- 
viceable, being commanded by the hill in its rear. 
Insignificant as the place may be, Lloyd's, with true com- 
mercial instinct, are particular in stopping both here and 
at Vostizza. The shore, on either side, is skirted by moun- 
tains ; but the scenery has nothing in particular to 
recommend it until you pass Vostizza, a town on the Morea 
side. A number of striking objects then follow each other 
in rapid succession. Parnassus looms in the distant north- 
east. To the right the range becomes elevated, and is 
fringed in parts with a pleasant foliage. Soon you gain 
the Crisean gulf, leave Parnassus and a host of kindred 
mountains in the rear, and gaze fondly on the Acropolis 
of Corinth, and those artificial-looking hills which fill so 
conspicuous a niche in Grecian story. Then you ap- 
proach, but do not enter, the gulf of Livadostro (Alcy- 
onium Mare) . Should a clear atmosphere lend its aid to 
the fiery brilliancy of a setting sun, you will snatch a 
sight, not only of all the objects already enumerated, 
but of the castle of Lepanto, more than sixty miles 
distant. From so remote a distance are objects visible 
in these summer seas, and so contracted a compass does 
space appear to assume, that the gulf of Lepanto wears 



248 DEPART FOR ATHENS. LEUTRAKI CALIMAKI. 

the aspect of a mere lake ; and the small extent of the 
Morea itself, suggests the facility with which, were the 
occasion to arise, it could be retained by a maritime 
nation like our own ; just as it was long held by the 
Venetians against the whole force of the Ottoman power. 
We arrived at Leutraki after sunset. Conceiving 
that beds would be provided for us at the magnificent 
station which Lloyd's have erected at that place, I lost 
no time in getting on shore. To my disappointment, 
two chairs, or the choice of the floor, were the only 
provision the company offered us on shore ; and as to 
supper, or anything in the way of refreshment, that was 
out of the question. The majority of the passengers, 
better instructed, remained in the vessel, and were free 
from the inconvenience. The Greek in charge of the 
station happened to be a person of a very irascible 
temperament, and, on rising in the morning, I was 
considerably diverted with the peremptory and somewhat 
ridiculous manner in which he conducted the arrange- 
ments for the disembarkation of the passengers, and the 
landing of the merchandize. Contrary to general 
practice, a through ticket from Patras to Athens is 
dearer than a division of the fare ; and our Greek pas- 
sengers of the superior class, true to their thrifty 
character, availed themselves of the arrangement with 
considerable advantage. At Leutraki we entered a 
diligence for Calimaki, situated on the other side of the 
isthmus. A tolerable, but circuitous road, connects the 
two places, from which a fine view of Corinth and the 
surrounding mountains is obtained during the journey. 
Every now and then we fell in with a party of gendarmes 
clad in the usual beggarly attire of their class ; but we 
could not help feeling how small a protection we should 
have derived from them, in case of our having been 



SALAMIS BAY AND THE BRITISH SQUADRON. 249 

assailed by a band of robbers. We bad not remained 
many minutes at the station at Calimaki, before the 
Baron Kubeck, another of the Company's steamers, 
was ready to carry us forward to Athens. Judging from 
the number of passengers on this occasion, one may 
reasonably infer that the line is a profitable one. The 
Greeks, even more than ourselves, are a very locomotive 
people, where their means allow ; and I must confess I 
was subsequently surprised at the number I found 
passing between Corfu and Constantinople. I could not 
help noticing the extraordinary precautions adopted by 
the officers of the steamer to prevent deceptions on the 
part of the Greeks ; of whom, many of the upper 
classes were alleged to be in the habit of taking a ticket 
of an inferior class, all the time that they frequent the 
after-deck. 

The coast, until we lay off Megara, presented little or 
nothing of an attractive nature ; but, as we approached 
iEgina on the one side and Salamis on the other, we 
did not fail to be struck with the tranquil beauty of the 
scene. Ere long we opened up the entrance to the 
channel of the bay of Salamis. In the distance, we 
could plainly descry the wooden walls of Old England 
proudly reposing on its unrippled surface ; and anchored 
alongside of them the Greek merchantmen, their prizes. 
On entering the Piraeus, we found that beautiful har- 
bour, in like manner, alive with ships of war, and the 
vessels prevented from putting to sea by the blockade. 
A French man-of-war of one hundred and twenty guns, 
a frigate, several steamers belonging to the same natior, 
the Odin, and other English steamers, together with 
Austrian and Russian frigates and smaller craft, served 
to fill up every vacant space that could be found. 

On landing, I was immediately beset by a crowd of 
m 5 



250 LANDING AT THE PIRiEUS. ATHENS. 

caliche drivers, vociferating the merits of their respective 
vehicles ; but a German gentleman having politely 
offered me a seat in the carriage he had already selected, 
I proceeded along with him on the road to Athens. The 
landlord of the hotel at Patras had recommended me to 
an hotel kept by a friend of his own ; but as my compa- 
nion, who was a resident at Athens, was ignorant of its 
existence; I chose rather to follow his advice, and took 
up my quarters at the Hotel de Grande Bret ague, 

I have no intention of entering upon a topic so thread- 
bare as a description of Athens : I shall, therefore, limit 
myself to a few remarks as to the situation of the 
country at the period of my visit, and to any matter of 
interest or novelty that may arise in the review thereof. 
The dispute with England was naturally the all-engros- 
sing topic of discussion ; yet, with all the strenuous 
efforts of the more corrupt portion of the English press 
to mystify a question that scarcely admitted of mysti- 
fication, and the equally glaring misrepresentations 
resorted to by the journals in the pay of the Greek 
Government, so palpable, nevertheless, was the real 
point at issue, that they failed to persuade the Greeks in 
general, either as to the policy or the equity of the 
protracted resistance of their Government. Whether it 
was that they were incapable of generalising, or whether 
it was that their bigotry prevailed over their political 
acumen ; all I can say is, that in cases where they took 
an unfavourable view of the English intervention, the 
Greeks always avoided allusion to the broken pledges 
.and bankrupt faith of their corrupt rulers, and confined 
themselves to an entirely collateral question — the de- 
merits of the Jew Pacifico. The English party, as may 
be readily supposed, made itself heard everywhere ; ex- 
posed the shallow sophistry of " our own correspondent," 



OPINION OF FOREIGNERS ON THE GREEK QUESTION. 251 

and the mendacity of his assertions in relation to the 
matters in dispute. Foreigners resident in Athens, 
whether French, Germans, or Italians, were unanimously 
of opinion, that the time had at length arrived when a 
term should be put to Greek perfidy and fraud ; and as 
the hope of redress by any other than coercive measures 
was simply ridiculous, they were agreed that, for the 
general interests of Europe, no less than for the moral 
lesson necessary to be enforced upon the Greeks indi- 
vidually, Lord Palmerston was devoutly to be thanked for 
the stern but salutary lesson he was now enforcing on 
them. The rupture with England, which most of the 
Greeks themselves had foreseen as anecessary consequence 
of the perfidy of their successive governments, was un^ 
doubtedly a godsend to the Austrian Government, which 
was generally supposed to have stood at the elbow of the 
obstinate Bavarian on this occasion. The same means 
which had been employed to mislead the English public 
on the Hungarian, were still more unblushingly resorted 
to to deceive them on the Greek question. One English 
journal, in particular, completely threw off its disguise, 
and condescended not only to receive its inspirations 
from the lips of royalty itself, but to receive the reward 
which royalty offered it as its mouth-piece. 

Whatever irritation might prevail against the English 
at Patras, little or none of it had extended to Athens. 
For the period intervening between my arrival and the 
termination of the blockade, three or four English 
visitors only were resident there ; yet we experienced 
the most polite attention from all classes. In point of 
fact, we became the lions of the hour, and found cause 
for inquiring of ourselves whether this arose from the 
confidence the Greeks were pleased to see us place in 
their national character at such a crisis, or whether the 
discussion of the Greek question and its antecedent 



252 EXCURSIONS INTO THE DISTRICTS OF ATTICA. 

had not served to remind that people of the immea- 
surable obligations they were under to our country, 
which, more than any other had consummated their 
independence. 

After a minute inspection of the monuments of 
ancient art, and every surviving relic in the city, I 
determined on making pedestrian excursions into the 
country districts of Attica. The first was to Mount 
Pentelicus, in company with Count P., a Milanese 
nobleman. From its summit, we gained a noble view of 
Attica, including the plain of Marathon, Euboea, and 
the isles of the iEgean ; but we were overtaken by dark- 
ness on our return over the plain, and did not escape 
the quagmires with which the roads were interspersed. 
The second I made alone, across the plain of Athens, to 
the site of the ancient Eleusis, and the territory of 
Megaris. I thus acquired a complete idea of the whole 
topography of Attica. On my route I encountered a 
savage-looking class of beings, who might have been 
taken for bandits, had they been less deficient in smart- 
ness. I became somewhat alarmed, for I considered myself 
little, if at all, protected by the equally ferocious-looking 
patrol of gendarmes, that sped past me from time to 
time. Happily I was left unmolested. On returning 
to Athens by way of Salamis, I fell in with a number o± 
my countrymen, some of whom were under instruction 
in the practice of gunnery, on the island of that name ; 
others were engaged in diversions on shore. Soon 
afterwards, I met the ambassador and his lady, the ad- 
miral, and a number of officers, taking their evening 
promenade in the vale of Daphne. The size and 
appearance of our vessels, as compared with the French 
or Turkish vessels of the same class, is rather apt to 
disappoint one on a close inspection. On this occasion 
I thought the fleet had appeared to far greater advantage 



HYMETTTJS AND ITS MARBLE QUARRIES. 253 

when seen from a distance ; but in its rigging, no less 
than in its living freight, it had a manifest advantage. 

A trip to Hymettus though sufficiently laborious, 
adequately repays one for one's trouble. A noble view 
of the Archipelago, and it is even said Crete, is from 
thence obtainable. Let not the tourist, deceived by its 
apparent proximity to Athens, postpone his departure 
after mid-day. The distance seems insensibly to increase 
as he approaches the object of his ambition; and that 
steep, up which the ascent appeared so easy, is found to 
contain its gorges and its passes ; to clear which is a 
work of time. The delightful balmy fragrance of the 
wild mountain-flowers enthrals the senses of the pedes- 
trian, as he steals along that solitary region, disturbed 
only by the flight of the partridge, the hum of the bees, 
"which still swarm where the wild thyme grows, or the 
noise occasioned by the miners in the marble quarries 
below. The re-opening of that neglected source of 
wealth betokens a new era for Greece. Were a tram- 
way formed from the mountain to Athens, and another 
to the Piraeus, both of which are perfectly practicable, 
not only would the cost of the material be considerably 
reduced, in respect to Athens itself, but a considerable 
export trade would immediately spring up, and give 
employment to all the shipping Greece could supply for 
years to come. 

One of my chief delights was, to pass, from time to 
time, from Athens to the Piraeus, in one of the nume- 
rous caliches plying between the two places. The town 
of the Piraeus is rapidly increasing, and bids fair to 
surpass, within a few years, her inland rival, both in 
wealth and population. Unlike Athens, but little has 
been accomplished for her by Bavarian taste ; she may, 
therefore, be considered more characteristically national. 



254 BRITISH SAILORS. THE PLAIN OF ATHENS. 

The harbour, small as it may be, is as still as a dock, and 
can at all times float the largest vessels. At the period of 
which I am now speaking, it assumed a very imposing 
appearance, owing to the number of Greek vessels of all 
sizes, detained within it; the vast proportions of the 
ships of war, and the life and animation which the 
constant passing and re-passing of the ships' launches 
and other boats infused into the scene. It was especially 
amusing to watch Jack ashore, to note how coolly and 
unconcernedly he conducted himself in what might 
turn out to be an enemy's country, and how inveterate 
was his love for grog, at whatever price. Being anxious 
to seize the first opportunity of paying my respects to 
the ambassador, I obtained a passage, on one of these 
occasions, by the courtesy of the officer in command, on 
the launch of the Queen, to that ship in Salamis bay; 
and was taken over her various sections by the officers 
of the watch. 

The plain of Athens is very extensive. Originally it 
must have exhibited a fair specimen of that aridity of 
soil for which Attica was once distinguished; yet, to 
judge from present appearances, the soil must have been 
brought by the patient industry of the Athenians, as 
the ballast or return cargo of many of the vessels engaged 
in her maritime commerce. The portion of the plain 
which adjoined the Pirseus, was occupied, on several 
occasions, for the purposes of cricket, by the midship- 
men of the British steamers in the harbour. At no 
great distance from the same spot might be observed 
huge stakes, from which depended a number of buffaloes, 
slaughtered to supply the wants of the thousands of 
hungry British mariners in the bay of Salamis. Al- 
though duly contracted for, the demand had trenched so 
much upon the means of supply, that the price had risen 



UNPRECEDENTED WEATHER. A BAVARIAN COLONY. 255 

to fivepence a pound ; while every other article of pro- 
vision had risen in a like proportion. Whatever then 
might have been the loss sustained by the Greek shipping 
interest from the blockade, the agriculturists could 
scarcely have failed to reap great benefit from its 
occurrence. 

The spring was now far advanced, yet we had little 
evidence of its genial temperature. Cold northerly 
winds and a cloudy sky were not exactly the phenomena 
to be expected in sunny Greece. But the winter had 
been equally unprecedented. The olive trees in the 
plain of Athens are reported to be five hundred years 
old. Most of them perished during that inclement sea- 
son. On one occasion, a launch dispatched from the 
fleet in Salamis, to take in water at the Piraeus, was 
prevented from returning by a contrary wind. The 
officers were found in a cave in which they had taken 
shelter; but the exposure to the cold was attended 
with fatal effects to a portion of her crew. On other 
occasions, the sailors of the fleet were deprived of their 
fingers by the severity of the weather. The author had 
bathed in the sea at Corfu in the month of December ; 
in the month of May such an attempt would have been 
foolhardy in the extreme. 

On one occasion, I visited the Bavarian colony which 
was introduced some years ago by the king, and 
planted on the plain, at about six miles' distance from 
the city. A church had been erected, and the priest 
was then in attendance ; but I cannot say the settle- 
ment struck me as being a very successful one. How 
could it be otherwise with a people so devoted to super- 
stition as they appeared to be. I procured, however, 
some tolerable wine of home manufacture at the house 
of one of the peasants. 



256 ROAD TO THE PIRJSUS. NEAPOLITAN REFUGEES. 

The plain of Athens, great as are its capabilities, is 
grievously neglected. Want of roads is, undoubtedly, 
an obstacle to improvement; but there is a greater 
one, the commercial genius of the people. It is this 
which leads them to import rather than to become the 
producers of corn, and other articles cf subsistence. 
How altered would become the aspect of Greece if she 
would learn to combine the two interests ! Climate, 
not soil, is the great fertilizing agent in these regions. 
"Why should not Attica, then, regain her long-lost 
character as a fruit-producing country, for which she is 
as well adapted as Anatolia? Well husbanded, the 
rivers Cephisus and Ilissus would amply suffice to 
water the whole plain. 

The road between Athens and the Piraeus, though 
sufficiently level and direct, does not speak much for the 
sagacity of its Bavarian constructors. Owing to the 
badness of the material, travelling on it in summer is 
intolerable, from the clouds of dust; and, in winter, 
the water pouring down from the Hymettus range 
either floods it or washes away the foundation ; both of 
which might have been obviated by raising it in the 
middle, and metalling its surface in a proper manner. 
On one occasion I found a number of Neapolitan 
refugees employed on its repair. One of them, a very 
intelligent person, assured me that the apostasy of the 
Sicilians, Savoyards, and of the Italians, in general, 
from the Uomish church, had been prodigious. He 
showed me, with pride, an Italian Bible, with which 
the English clergyman at Athens had presented him. 
In general the Italian refugees were well received by 
the Greeks ; who, to do them justice, are a very com- 
passionate people ; and, though they could scarcely sus- 
tain life on the wages they received, yet, as a temporary 



PALACE AND SOUVENIRS OF THE GREEK STRUGGLE. 257 

shift, it was of service. I was not a little amused at the 
lingua franca in which my interlocutor superintended 
the Greek workmen, and conveyed his instructions. It 
sounded somewhat novel to hear him, in addressing a 
particular man, describe him as Questo av0pco7ro<;. 

The cafes and hotels of Athens are numerous and 
well supported. The former have been established on 
the German model. They are much frequented at all 
hours of the day by crowds of Greeks, young and old, 
intent, as ever, after the rv /ccuvov. The hotel d'Angle- 
terre, situated on an eminence in the outskirts of the 
town, is an equally magnificent and expensive place of 
resort. Close in its train follow four or five equally 
respectable but more moderate establishments, and such 
as the economist will assuredly prefer. The two prin- 
cipal streets of Athens intersect each other at right 
angles. One extends from the western entrance of the 
town to the palace, the other from the promenade to 
the Acropolis. Some very fine structures, after the 
German style, have been very recently raised in the 
vicinity of the palace, and go far to redeem the town 
from the aspersions which a witty Englishman has cast 
upon it. A perfect mania for building has now seized 
upon the people, much to the improvemeat of the city 
as a modern capital, but not to its advantage as the 
receptacle of the relics of ancient art. 

Within the marble palace of royalty is to be found 
the record of the Greek contest, in its several stages, 
in the shape of pictures commemorative of the inci- 
dents of the war, and the king's accession to the throne. 
It is anything but satisfactory to the Englishman who 
may scan the tablet on which is comprised the list of 
the great names who had a share in the liberation of 
the country, to notice r O Bvpcov slightingly classed in the 



258 THE GREEK ARMY.— PANHELLENISM. 

lower rank of her defenders, while individuals, only sig- 
nificant by their intrigue, are allowed to fill the more 
prominent positions. Heavy as may be the effect 
produced by the ensemble of the palace, yet its lofty posi- 
tion earns for it a degree of grandeur in harmony with 
surrounding objects. The gardens, in which the queen 
takes a great interest, occupy no great extent of ground, 
but admit of enlargement ; and are as tastefully laid out 
as the nature of the soil permits. 

The university of Athens has wonderfully increased in 
size and importance within a very recent period. Many 
of the professors are Germans, and great zeal appears 
to be displayed by all concerned with it in advancing 
the interests of science. Whatever excellence it may 
one day attain, the Greek press, at present, owes its 
very existence to its fostering care. 

The greater proportion of the Greek army is sta- 
tioned permanently at Athens. The men are smart 
and well-formed, but apparently deficient in discipline. 
After watching the evolutions of the artillery on one 
occasion, I-adjourned to dinner with one of the officers,. 

an Ionian, the young Count R . He was greatly 

smitten with the new theory of Panhellenism ; but 
acknowledged that he was struck with the force of my 
remarks as to the disadvantages likely to accrue to his 
own country from the coveted annexation. I found 
little or no difficulty in extorting an admission that the 
Ionian republic, as being at least half-a-century a-head 
of continental Greece, had everything to lose and 
nothing to gain by the exchange of masters. After 
dinner we were diverted by a little French midshipman 
who had espoused the cause of the Greeks. Full to 
satiety of his own importance, he disclosed imaginary 
secrets, which he professed to have gained through a 



THE KING. — HIS CHARACTER. 259 

confidential channel, for the comfort of his Hellenic 
friends. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to credit his state- 
ments ; and next morning brought us the intelligence 
of the king's definitive abandonment of his ground. 

Several oppportunities had been afforded me of 
catching a glimpse of his Majesty, as he emerged 
from the Palace to take riding exercise, on which occa- 
sions he complies with Oriental precedent in receiving 
the petitions of his unruly subjects ; but I thought I 
had never seen a man, whose physiognomy more closely 
indicated his defects of character. Petulance and ob- 
stinacy are there imprinted in the most unmistakeable 
lineaments ; the latter failing nearly lost him his crown 
on this occasion. The people of the isles, ere another 
month had expired, would assuredly have arisen to de- 
throne him. Well was it remarked, the Germans are 
the most obstinate of peoples ; the Bavarians are the 
most obstinate of Germans ; but Otho is the most 
obstinate of all Bavarians. Unwarned by the hint 
thrown out by his subjects in the last insurrection, 
he had again reverted to his autocratic principles ; and 
will one day pay the penalty of the violation of the 
Charter. 

Just previous to my departure from Athens, I was 
accosted in the street by an unfortunate Hungarian 
refugee, to whose father — a man of high rank, shot by 
the Austrians at Arad — I had carried letters of recom- 
mendation from England. 

He recollected having met me at Viddin, and now 
implored me to relieve him from the state of misery in 
which he was then involved. To keep soul and body 
together, he had been reduced to the necessity of trans- 
cribing German airs for the students of the University. 
I was happy in being enabled to succour him effectually. 



260 PROCEED TO SYRA AND THE iEGEAN. 

My Italian friend provided him with a supply of cloth- 
ing; I raised something for him among my other 
friends; and, having drawn up a memorial in his 
behalf for circulation among the officers in the fleet, 
he obtained a considerable sum. Thanks to the hu- 
manity of Sir James Stirling, I was fortunate enough 
to procure him a passage to Malta in the " Howe." 

From Athens, I proceeded to Syra in the " Baron 
Kubeck," in company with the late Vice-Consul of Greece 
at Cephalonia. That deserving young man had been 
degraded to the inferior and less lucrative post of Vice- 
Consul at Venice, in order to mark the displeasure of 
the Greek Government, at his having admonished the 
British authorities of Cephalonia of the pre-meditated 
outbreak in that island. In the transit to Syra, the 
voyager obtains a fine view of the coasts of Attica and 
Euboea, with the exception of the latter, however, 
none of the Greek islands in the iEgean group possess 
agricultural capabilities. From the sea, Syra, like all 
the other islands of the Archipelago, appears a naked 
rock ; but no sooner do you enter the harbour, than 
you discover its admirable position as an entrepot. 

Although little more than an aggregation of cottages, 
capped by a Greek church, the amphitheatrical form 
of the town gives it a most imposing appearance from 
the water, only to be dissipated immediately upon land- 
ing. In vain will the stranger search for anything in 
the shape of a street ; the place is neither more nor 
less than an irregular cluster of houses, and blind lanes, 
arranged so as to defy classification. Nor are amends 
made for this state of chaos by the beauty or grandeur 
of the structures, or the cleanliness of the devious roads. 
Weary, therefore, of threading the mazes, in which a 
barbarous instinct has led the citizens of Syra to 



GREEK MARITIME ENTERPRISE. 261 

indulge, I prepared, after breakfast, to take a trip into 
the interior of the island. 

In emerging from the town, I came upon the ship- 
building establishments in the centre of the bay, at all 
of which vessels of one size or another were in process 
of construction. Much as I had heard of the progress 
of Greece in maritime wealth, I confess I was astonished 
both at the number, size, and symmetry of the craft on 
which her artizans were then at work. Syra is only one 
of the numerous establishments giving birth to Greek 
maritime enterprise. Other, and in some cases, larger 
yards exist at Hydra, iEgina, the Pirseus, the Negro- 
pont, etc. Not only are the Greeks enabled to undersell 
other nations in the construction of their ships, by reason 
of the cheapness of labour, originating in the spare and 
cheap diet on which a crew is supported ; and the low 
price of the material ; but also by the system according 
to which they are manned. In most cases, the captain 
is either the owner of a moiety of the vessel, or has a 
share in the cargo ; or perhaps selects his crew from 
his own family or connections. It will easily be under- 
stood how important a result is capable of being achieved 
under such a mutual system of co-operation. Ulti- 
mately, and in case there should be no disturbing re-ac- 
tion caused by the success of the screw steamers, the 
Greeks will monopolise again the greater part of the 
commerce of the Levant. Farther than that they will 
not go ; for they are unfitted alike by their habits and 
education for the prosecution of long voyages. Signal, 
however, as may have been the success of the Greeks, 
under the circumstances already mentioned, the same 
happy result has not always extended to Greek 
bottoms carrying foreign produce, by reason of the 
perfidy and dishonesty of the commanders, in cases 



262 SYRA AND ITS MARBLE ROCKS. ' 

where a check has not existed to peculation and fraud. 
The rate of insurance is, consequently, remarkably 
high, and acts in itself as a preventive to the expan- 
sion of their foreign trade. There is every reason to 
believe that Greek commerce, like Greek agriculture, 
has undergone no material change in modern times. 
The same co-operative system was the keystone of 
ancient commerce, and worked then as it works now, 
admirably in the prosecution of short voyages. 

From the marbled steep to the west of the town, 
a fine view is obtained of the harbour and the 
country seats of the merchants. By what appeared 
to be intended for a road, I made for a cluster of 
these quiet retreats, situate about three miles inland, 
and embosomed in a delightful shade of orange, fig, 
and other luxuriant and fragrant vegetation. The fig is 
the only tree which can be said to flourish spontaneously 
in Syra ; and the parched aspect of the country at this 
early period of the year, coupled with the creaking, 
groaning sound emitted from the axles of the rude water- 
wheels seen in motion in every direction, betokened a 
state of things anything but pleasing to contemplate 
during the torrid months. 

Before taking my departure, it was necessary to pro- 
cure the vise of the Turkish Consul, in order to proceed 
to Smyrna and Constantinople. Of that I had no reason 
to complain \ but I thought it rather too exacting when 
the Greek authorities came to demand a heavy fee from 
a stranger who, like myself, had only set foot a few 
hours on shore. 

In the afternoon I embarked on the " Europa," one 
of the largest of Lloyd's steamers. Owing to the irre- 
gularity of the Postmaster, we were detained a full half- 
hour for the mails. At length, just as we were about 



ENTRANCE INTO THE BAY OF SMYRNA. 263 

to proceed, tlie frightened official was signalled hasten- 
ing up to us at full speed, and, having taken our charge 
on board, we soon left Syra in the rear. 

Owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, most of the 
isles forming the Greek portion of the Archipelago, past 
which we now steamed so rapidly, were visible at one 
and the same time. Of these, Syra is, perhaps, the most 
populous, the town containing from twenty-five to thirty 
thousand souls. At Tenos my attention was called by 
a fellow-traveller to a Greek church, reputed to be the 
finest in the kingdom. Early in the morning we had 
crossed the channel intervening between the two groups 
and were abreast of Scio. One of the Company's 
steamers, which had met with an accident during a 
recent voyage, having put in for repairs at Fogio, we 
called to inquire whether she was in need of assistance, 
and then entered the gulf of Smyrna. After passing the 
celebrated headland at the mouth and English island, re- 
markable for its deceptive appearance of proximity to the 
main, we sighted Vourla bay, in which the British fleet 
had very recently anchored. The mouth of the Hermus, 
which we next reached, offers considerable impediments 
to the navigation of the channel, throwing off a long 
spit, to avoid which vessels have to approach close to 
the southern shore. From a distance the low position 
of Smyrna gives it a very characteristic appearance, 
which is insensibly exchanged for a feeling of admira- 
tion as you pass the finely-wooded heights, the beauti- 
fully verdant shore, the — from this distance apparently 
noble — town, and the lofty mountains which close the 
picture in the rear. As to one of these objects, you are 
soon undeceived; for, save and except the picturesque 
castle, the cypress groves, and the barracks, you see 
nothing of an attractive character about the town, from 
the water at least. 



264 PECULIARITIES OF THE CITY. 

No sooner had we fairly cast anchor, than we were 
beset by a swarm of boats and caiques, manned by 
Turks, Greeks, Jews, and Maltese. In one of these, as 
we had twenty -four hours to stay, I landed on shore, 
and was soon threading my way through the bazaars of 
that singular city. The cemeteries were the next 
objects of attraction; and thither, therefore, I bent my 
steps, after a visit to the Persian, slave, and camel 
bazaars. The tall cypress groves extend a great distance, 
and throw a pleasing shade over the variously wrought 
and strikingly coloured tombs, most of which are erect, 
and girt at the top with the effigy of a turban. The 
stranger is astonished at the vast space occupied by the 
cemeteries in Turkey, indicating as it does, so inordi- 
nate a mortality among the Ottoman population. I 
next ascended the lofty hill which overlooks the town, 
and entered the walls of the ancient castle. So violent, 
however, was the hurricane which blew at the moment in 
that elevated spot, that it was with difficulty I could 
stand erect and preserve my equilibrium. From the 
castle a beautiful view is gained, both of the town 
and the interior of the country. The soil in the 
vicinity of Smyrna is exceedingly fertile. Even on the 
apparently barren heights, the finest pine and other 
timber will flourish. The fig, so highly prized at home, 
is also derived from the immediate locality. 

The khans, in which are the merchants' offices, 
are very singular edifices, and, as their name implies, 
are a species of caravanserai : the principal of them 
run latitudinally between the quay and the main street 
of the town, and the gates by which they are enclosed 
are shut after sun- set at the two extremities. The 
European Consuls in general reside within the khans. 
A long staff, capped by a coronet, denotes their respective 



TURKISH PREJUDICES THE COUNTESS GUYON. 265 

establishments. During my stay at Smyrna, I obtained 
some insight into the corruption and peculation 
pervading every branch of the Turkish service. For a 
petty bribe, such as a mendicant in England would 
spurn, a Turkish official will wink at the most flagrant 
breach of the law, and permit smuggling to any extent. 
An Ionian ship chandler, on one occasion, while in 
the act of landing me, performed a feat of this descrip- 
tion, and made no secret of the facility with which he 
carried on his operations. 

We stayed nearly two days at Smyrna, taking in a 
considerable cargo, and a great number of passengers 
for Constantinople. The traffic between the two places 
is immense ; and each of the six or seven companies 
which touch at Smyrna, en route to Western Europe, 
find their profit from it. On the Lloyd's boats, due 
attention is paid to Turkish prejudices, and a portion of 
the vessel is religiously railed off, and set apart for the 
Turkish ladies, who, be the weather what it may, 
never quit it during the voyage. Among the passengers 
whom we had taken on board at Syra, was the Countess 
Guy on, wife of the Hungarian general, and her three 
young children. They had only been recently liberated 
from prison, at Presburgh, where they had been con- 
fined for some months, on their having been reclaimed 
as British subjects, by Lord Ponsonby. I was, much to 
her delight, happy in being able to assure the countess 
of her husband's safety and welfare, and to promise her 
that he would be ready to meet her at Constantinople. 

We left Smyrna late in the afternoon. Upon getting 
abreast of Scio, darkness soon ensued; soon, too, 
a heavy swell, accompanied by a stiff breeze, set in, and 
the weather became uncommonly cold. Having been, 
informed, however, that we should stop two or three 

N 



266 MITYLENE TENEDOS — PLAIN OE TROY. 

hours at Mitylene, I resolved to remain on deck, in 
order that I might not forego the opportunity of form- 
ing an idea of its position and its resources. That 
long and narrow island seemed interminable, till at 
length the lights of the town indicated our arrival 
in the harbour, when the Mityleneans, to do them justice, 
did not keep us long in ignorance of their presence. 
It seemed as if Bedlam was all of a sudden let loose. 
Such flurry and confusion — such screeching and 
shouting seemed to defy imitation, taking the numbers 
engaged in it into consideration. Mitylene, like Scio, 
Rhodes, Lemnos, Tenedos, and the whole of the Turkish 
group in the Archipelago is very rich and fertile. We 
reached the latter island and its dependencies, called 
the Rabbits, with the dawn of day. At Tenedos is 
produced the famous wine of the same name, which 
is in great demand both in Greece and Turkey. It 
possesses, with that of Brussa, the monopoly of the 
market at Constantinople, and so close is its resemblance 
to port that an hotel-keeper, whose conscience admits 
of a convenient elasticity, will supply your demand 
for the Portuguese article by the infusion of a little 
logwood into the first bottle of Tenedos he may happen 
to find. 

After clearing Tenedos, you are abreast of the Plain 
of Troy, and ere long Mount Ida is seen distinctly 
in the distance. Two tumuli, and one in particular, of 
pyramidal shape, offer some pretext for the pious fraud 
which the Greeks, who declare it to be the tomb of 
Ajax, attempt to impose upon the stranger. Simul- 
taneously with the view of Ida, you catch also a distant 
glimpse of towering Olympus. Turning to the north- 
west, you will descry Mount Athos gleaming athwart 
the distant waters. Lemnos and Imbros next offer 



THE DARDANELLES AND ITS CASTLES. 267 

food for your observation, until you are alongside of the 
Castles. The Dardanelles have been described in such 
glowing terms by the majority of tourists, that the 
imagination of those who follow in their track is neces- 
sarily wrought up to the highest pitch, a proportionate 
disappointment is, therefore, the natural result, when, 
on reaching Gallipoli ; at their north-eastern extremity, 
you have discovered few or none of the features of beauty 
or sublimity on which they have lavished so much 
of admiration. Not but that the physical conformation 
of that narrow gut, connecting so many and o vast 
an expanse of seas, is not of itself an object of wonder; 
not but that the classical associations of the spot 
render it in a manner sacred — not but that sky and 
sea lend their most potent effects to enhance the 
picture, but there is withal a tameness and monotony 
in the scenery, wild and devoid of cultivation though 
it be, which not all the interesting objects that follow 
each other in rapid succession, on either bank, can 
altogether redeem. Formidable as the Castles appear 
on board ship, wondrous as may be the size of the engines 
of destruction contained within them, one must ignore 
the improvement which modern science has effected in 
the art of war, to suppose that they are capable of 
resisting a fleet commanded by an officer of adequate 
enterprise and resolution. On the land side they are 
in general commanded by eminences in the rear ; the 
heart-shaped fort, on the European side, is alone 
capable of a protracted resistance, and as to the range of 
the artillery in general, unless an enemy be polite 
enough to stand motionless in face of it, or having once 
received his fire, be polite enough to return for the 
same purpose, its influence would, from the absence 
traversing carriages, be in a manner nugatory. 



268 GALLIPOLI SEA OF MARMORA. 

On entering the Sea of Marmora, we were overtaken 
by the night, and with night the weather became 
boisterous. There are times when vessels are obliged 
to return and put in at Gallipoli, unable to stem 
the heavy tide and heavier sea which the treacherous 
Euxine propels forward, and the neighbouring moun- 
tains help to swell. All these inland seas are capable 
of being lashed into fury at the shortest notice, and 
will often catch an unwary navigator on the hip before 
he can prepare to meet them. 



269 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Constantinople and the Golden Horn. — Optical Illusion. — True 
Side of the Picture. — Hungarian Refugees. — Pera and its 
Promenades. — The Eamazan and Bairam. — Climate of Con- 
stantinople prejudicial. — The Author is attacked by Inter- 
mittent Fever. — The Sweet Waters. — The Bosphorus and its 
Charms. — Impetuosity of the Currents, and the dangerous 
Consequences. — Labour Combinations. — Trip to Belgrade and 
its Environs. — Dr. Millingen and Papal Violence. — Further 

Proofs of its Iniquity, — Count F and his sad History. — 

The British Consul-Gen eral. — Exposure of various crying 
Abuses. — Specimen of Greek Chicanery and British Negligence. 
— The Wonder is that the Commerce of Western Europe can 
withstand the unequal Competition which Greek and Arme- 
nian Fraud has opposed to it. — Our Merchant-Captains. — Sir 
Stratford Canning. — Attempts of the Turks to naturalize 
Manufactures. — Besult of these Efforts. How defeated. — 
Cupidity of Turkish Employes of every Eank and Grade. — 
Examples of the Manner in which the State is defrauded. — 
The Osmanli Character when removed from Temptation. — > 
Fires at Constantinople — Their Frequency. — Ionian and Maltese 
Criminals the supposed Incendiaries. — Plain of Nicomedia. — 
Scene in a Caique. — Deference paid to the Sex in Turkey. — 
Military Barracks at Scutari. — Description of Pera, Galata, 
and Stamboul. — The Mosques. — Slavery in Turkey. — Palaces of 
the Sultan. — The Golden Horn as a Harbour. — Turkish To- 
bacco. Impolicy of our Restrictions upon its Use. — Steam in 
the Bosphorus. — Attempt of the Austrian Government to 
Procure the Assassination of Kossuth. How frustrated. — 
Take a Passage in the Screw-steamer Brigand for Malta.— 
Ipsara and Anti-Ipsara.— Ionian Sea. — Quarantine at Malta. — 



270 THE GOLBEN HORN CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Cholera. — Eemain a Month in the Island. — Proceed in the 
Screw-steamer Hellespont to England. — Pantellaria. — Cape Bon. 
— Bay of Tunis. — Algiers.— Gibraltar. — The Bay of Biscay and 
English Weather. — Reflections on landing in England. 

We entered the Golden Horn at daybreak, and through, 
a glorious sunshine had leisure to satiate ourselves with 
that unrivalled panorama, which such an infinity of 
objects combine to form. Fortunately, my prediction 
to the exiled countess was verified by the immediate 
appearance of her undaunted helpmate ; and I had the 
pleasure of sharing in the unlimited joy arising from 
their unexpected re-union. Constantinople, like the 
views of it, which now attract so many visitors, is an 
optical illusion. Not that there is not such a place ; but 
that the compori3nts of that picture of sublimity are 
only wonderful when grouped, and, with few exceptions, 
cease to astonish you as you review them in detail. You 
have not had time to set a foot on shore, before the 
senses revolt at the squalor, stench, and poverty-stricken 
aspect which greet you on every side. You are made 
at once sensible that you have landed among a semi- 
barbarous race, retrograding in many points, even though 
they be advancing in others. You will find that un- 
rivalled harbour, which not all the accumulated feculence 
of centuries has sufficed to fill up, pregnant with malaria 
and death. You will find a custom-house, inadequate 
to the requirements of a third-rate British port, appro- 
priated to the purposes of an aggregation of cities 
counting six hundred thousand souls. The streets you 
wall find scarcely wider than London passages, and, in like 
manner, impracticable for carriages ; the houses, some 
of mud, and sufficiently wretched ; the others of wood, 
of transient duration, and painted in gaudy colours. 
"What was it, then, that charmed you so a few r minutes 



OPTICAL ILLUSION TRUE SIDE OF THE PICTURE. 271 

ago? It is only by piecemeal, and at long intervals, 
that you catch, through an opening which some fire has 
created, a portion of the panorama which delighted you 
so on entering. But why should I attempt to portray 
Constantinople ? Are not its features already familiar 
to the reader ? And has not a work been recently issued 
from the press, unrivalled as a compendium of every- 
thing most worthy of note in it ? Rather, then, let us 
confine ourselves to what has escaped our predecessors, 
and, true to the egoism which has pervaded this little 
book, speak of the place in its relation to ourselves. 

Eschewing Hotels d' Angleterre, with the instinct of 
the experienced traveller, we preferred a location in the 
upper part of Galata, near the ancient palace of the 
Venetian commandant, to which we had been recom- 
mended by an officer on board the steamer. A week's 
residence was, however, quite sufficient to impress us 
with the desirableness of change; the warm weather 
had evoked unnumbered vermin from their places of 
concealment; we were glad, therefore, to accept the 
offer of a worthy English family in the immediate 
neighbourhood, and to take up our abode under their 
hospitable roof. Galata and Pera were, at this period, 
crowded with Maygar, Polish, and Italian refugees ; 
more than a hundred had lodged themselves in the 
Venetian "palace alone. For the most part without 
funds, dragging on a weary existence from day to day, 
living from hand to mouth, their situation daily be- 
came more critical ; the Turkish government, which had 
supported them up to their quitting Schumla, after 
giving them a donation of five hundred piastres, had 
now left them to their own resources. A portion of 
them had already embarked for America at the expense 
of the British and Ottoman governments, a smaller 



272 HUNGARIAN EXILES PERA AND HER PROMENADES. 

section had contrived to obtain employment, either as 
artizans in the government establishments, or as 
assistants to tradesmen in the place; but the great 
majority could find no vocation for their talents, and 
hung on listlessly, the unwelcome accessaries to a great 
city. Four or five bands of these unfortunates enlivened 
the promenades at Pera with their strains, and attempted 
by that means to gain a livelihood. One of them, better 
organ-ised, succeeded beyond expectation, and drew 
crowds every evening to the promenade abutting on the 
great cemetery. To me it was a source of considerable 
pleasure to betake myself on the summer evenings to 
that cool and agreeable retreat, among the cypress 
groves, from whence one of the finest views in Con- 
stantinople gladdens the eye of theobserver. During the 
Ramazan and Bairam, the gigantic capital assumed an 
inexpressibly grand appearance, as it was seen illuminated 
in the twilight from that commanding point, nor were 
the huge men-of-war, in the Golden Horn below, the 
least important accessaries to the effect. A twinkling 
light flickered from every port-hole, and the masts were 
hung with transparent lanterns. 

Whether it was on one of these occasions, that the 
dank malaria, issuing from the adjoining and over- 
crowded grave-yards, or the miasma escaping from the 
puddle dock below, or worse, an imprudent exposure 
to the sun during the day, crept with their wonted 
stealth into the system, to terminate in intermittent 
fever, I even now know not ; but in the month of July 
I was visited with a most severe and virulent attack of 
that distressing malady, which, in a few days, reduced 
me from a state of robust health to one of extreme 
debility. At the hottest period of the year, Constantinople 
is subject to the influence of the most subtle and piercing 



CLIMATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE ATTACK OF FEVER. 273 

winds, of which a North-easter is the most formidable. 
That wind, which emanates from the fetid and pestilen- 
tial steppes of Western Tartary, has not been sufficiently 
rarified by the Black Sea ere it arrives in Europe to 
partake of the piercing influence of the local currents 
of air, with which it becomes blended on its passage. 
Thus a person sallying forth at mid-day in summer, 
when the heat is most oppressive, is liable, in encoun- 
tering one of these currents, to receive such a check to 
the system as may at any time produce an attack of 
ague. I imagine we are accustomed in England to 
judge of the climate of Constantinople rather in refer- 
ence to the latitude in which it is placed than to its 
physical position, and the conformation of the country 
in its vicinity. In winter the cold is often almost in- 
tolerable. The winter preceding my arrival had been one 
of Russian severity ; the snow had lain upon the ground 
for weeks, to the depth of from six to eight feet. On 
my arrival in May, the cold was frequently inconvenient. 
All this is to be attributed to the exposed situation of 
the greater portion of the city, which renders it a prey to 
the winds from every quarter. Even from the south, 
Olympus wafts her icy breath during spring, with telling 
effect on the thermometer. 

The country in the vicinity of Constantinople pos- 
sesses almost unrivalled attractions. Eastward from the 
city stretches the Thracian Bosphorus, dotted with the 
villages of Bebec, Therapia, Byukdere, and other well- 
known haunts of pleasure. Belgrade, more inland, 
contains within her ample domain rural charms of no 
common order. The Sweet Waters are the fashionable 
place of resort of the Turkish, Greek, and Armenian 
fair. There they may be said literally to hang their 
harps upon the willows, not like the captive Israelites of 

n 5 



274 ENVIRONS OF THE CITY — A TURKISH CAIQUE. 

old, in sorrow, but in the Ml expression of mirth and 
festivity. To the south of the city are situated Scutari 
and its lovely environs, Kadykeui, Fanari, and the 
Prince's islands ; to the west, the picturesque shores of 
the Sea of Marmora. A sail up the Bosphorus is of 
itself worth going from England for, not that you even 
there realise the sublime : it is the picturesque and the 
beautiful that are shadowed forth in a degree unsur- 
passed elsewhere. 

What astonishes every stranger, and the British sailor 
more than all, is the fragile nature of the canoe in which 
he navigates that pent-up, impetuous current. He feels 
that the slightest deflection of his person on either side 
would immediately upset the little craft. When, to 
make the matter worse, he perceives that she only pos- 
sesses a purchase of the water in her middle, the ex- 
tremities fore and aft running bow-wise from out of it, his 
wonder is for a long time alternated with apprehension. 
On one occasion I accompanied a friend to an appoint- 
ment with Sir S. Canning at Therapia. No sooner had 
we landed one of the American missionaries at Bebec, 
than we were overtaken by boisterous weather. Although 
the distance between the two places scarcely exceeds 
three miles, it took us four hours to accomplish it, the 
ca'iquejes twice putting in on the way to recruit them- 
selves from their exhaustion. In case we had been 
upset, the surf and current would have assuredly pre- 
vented our reaching the shore. I confess it was not 
without anxiety that I beheld the flood of water, which 
every now and then broke in upon the boat, baled out 
at the risk of finding ourselves on her beam ends. 
Fortunately, though drenched to the skin, we finally 
succeeded in effecting a landing in safety. On the 
return passage we had the wind in our favour, and 



RAPIDITY OF THE CURRENT. 275 

accomplished in a few minutes, without risk, what it 
had taken us hours to effect in starting. Very many 
melancholy accidents have taken place on the Bosphoru 
within a comparatively recent period. Just before my 
arrival three young men, employed at the iron works at 
Zeitoun Bournou, had been capsized in rounding an angle 
where the current is most impetuous ; two of them were 
swimmers, and contended long, but in vain, with the 
eddying whirlpool. They were drowned. The third of the 
party, ignorant of natation, was carried by the current 
to the next projection of the shore, and landed on the 
sand unharmed. In returning to inquire after his 
friends, he found, instead, their corpses on the beach, 
a few hundred yards above. In winter, it is for weeks 
together impossible to cross the narrow channel between 
Stamboul and Scutari. The communication could 
always be kept up by steamers, but for a class interest — 
that of the cdiquejes. No sooner was the proposal to 
employ steamers mooted, than those sturdy athletes 
rose in a body, and demanded the revocation of a scheme 
which would have rendered them so many supernume- 
ries in the labour market. Mob law, and labour 
combinations, are as equally prevalent, and far more 
successful, in despotic countries than with us, where 
capital can accomplish next to impossibilities. The 
project to which I have alluded, was, therefore, dropped. 
About the same time, and probably in consequence of the 
successful opposition referred to, the women of Stam- 
boul, alarmed at the increasing demand which had of 
late sprung up for their youth for military service, from 
which, for some reason or other, they claim an exemp- 
tion, in like manner hastened to the palace, and, on 
being refused admittance, gave vent to their displeasure 
in terms such as the sex of the lower orders only can 



2/6 THE BOSPHORUS AND ITS CHARMS. 

employ, and the authorities were obliged to withdraw 
the offensive requisition. 

But to return to the Bosphorus, and its seats of 
pleasure. On one occasion, I went to Byukdere accom- 
panied by my friend. Count I\, on one of the steamers 
which ply twice a day between that place and the 
capital. The hotels at Byukdere are excesssiyely high in 
their charges. I had received an invitation to the 
house of a friend in the place. My companion, disgusted 
at the imposition practised on him, returned early next 
morning to Stamboul. I was left, therefore, to pursue 
alone a little pedestrian excursion, which I had 
marked out for myself. It consisted in following up the 
channel of the Bosphorus to its embouchure into the 
Black Sea. In striking across the country to Philen, 
a Turkish town and fortress on the Black Sea, retracing 
my course from thence to Belgrade, in the interior, and 
returning to Byukdere in the evening, in all, a distance 
of thirty miles. Nothing could be more striking than 
the first part of the route through the picturesque 
fishing villages, in which myriads of small fish were 
hung up to dry on stakes, and along side the ancient forts, 
which Turkish negligence is permitting to fall fast to 
decay. The space required to describe all the objects 
of interest which delight the eye between Byukdere 
and the Symplegades, is here forbidden me. Proceed 
we to observe that at Fanaraki, in the immediate 
vicinity of the last named rocks, is a light-house, and 
close by it, the last of the forts which line, but do not 
guard, the shores leading to the capital, the key of the 
empire. It must be the firm belief which the Turks 
maintain in predestination, that can have alone induced 
them to leave exposed to a Russian fleet, posts, such as 
the application of a small amount of science, and no 



TRIP TO BELGRADE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 277 

great expence, might have rendered invulnerable. After 
passing Philen, I was surprised to notice the desolation 
which had been occasioned over a large tract of country, 
by the loose sand blown up from the beach by the wind, 
for the sea could not possibly, heavily as it may beat 
on this coast, attain such an altitude. Worse than all, 
fertile as may be the whole of this angle of Europe, 
nine tenths of it remain uncultivated. 

The entrance to the forest in which Belgrade is situ- 
ated is very romantic and beautiful. For a time, the 
pedestrian winds along roads skirting precipices and 
dells, their whole surface covered with the finest timber, 
until he reaches the valley itself; there he crosses those 
gigantic dams all of the finest marble, which Justinian 
constructed to retain the waters of a neighbouring stream, 
and which, subsequently entering an aqueduct, supply 
Constantinople. These dams and bridges are of the finest 
materials and workmanship, and do honor to the Greek 
architect and his Turkish imitators. The village of 
Belgrade has many rural charms, and is much fre- 
quented during the summer season. The forest in 
which it is situated, rejoices in the most noble timber; 
and the mineral waters, for which it is famous, are a 
great resort for invalids. I returned to Byukdere 
by the road which follows the aqueduct to Constanti- 
nople, and is carried alongside of it for some distance, 
by the same giant viaducts over the ravines and valleys. 
The valley in which Byukdere is situated is surpass- 
ingly beautiful, and richly cultivated withal; for it 
admits of being plentifully irrigated. At the time 
of my visit, the green crops assumed a surprising 
luxuriance. I arrived at my journey's end at sunset, 
passing through the great brick-field, in the outskirts, 
which employs a great number of hands. 



278 DR. MILLINGEN AND PAPAL VIOLENCE. 

It was on my return, on this occasion, to Constanti- 
nople, that I fell in with Dr. Millingen and his son ; the 
name of the former has become known to Europe by his 
having accompanied Lord Byron, in his travels in the 
East ; he is now physician to the Dowager Sultana ; the 
latter had just been rescued from the fangs of a gang of 
miscreants, with whom the Greek or Albanian bandit 
might compare with advantage. Erom the statement 
of the youth, it appeared that, after the separation of 
his father from his Greek wife, he had been invited by 
an aunt, then resident in Italy, to join her there, in 
order that she might impart to him an English educa- 
cation, which was not to be obtained at Constantinople. 
She was then a Protestant. Her brother, therefore, 
had no scruple in accepting for his son the proffered 
boon. No sooner had he arrived, than she embraced 
the Romish superstition ; whereupon the first fruit of 
her apostasy was to consign the youth, who had so 
strong a claim on her honour, fidelity, and affection, to 
that den of iniquity — a Romish convent. To its shame 
be it said, no measures were taken by the British 
Government to obtain his removal. In vain Dr. Mil- 
lingen persuaded the Sultana to address her Majesty 
the Queen of these realms, with a view to the enforcement 
of his son's delivery. The agonized father had witnessed 
one after another the futility of every effort, and had re- 
nounced the struggle as a hopeless one, when by the inter- 
position of Providence, the hurricane of the Revolution 
burst, like a torrent, on the Romish States, sweeping 
before it the profligate herd of priestly debauchees who had 
so long profaned the sacred seat of Coriolanus and the 
Gracchi. To Rome Dr. Millingen therefore hastened, 
with all the despatch which a father, robbed of his off- 
spring, could employ. A brother practitioner, a Roman 



FURTHER PROOFS OF PAPAL CUNNING. 279 

Catholic, also residing at Constantinople, had, never- 
theless, written by the same channel, to advise the 
authorities of the convent of his contemplated mission. 
No sooner, however, had Dr. Millingen laid before the 
triumvirs the object of his arrival, than they at once 
issued an order to enable him to enter the convent, and 
furnished him with a guard, in case of treachery, or of 
a refusal to deliver up his son. He preferred to enter 
the convent as an English traveller who was anxious to 
satisfy his curiosity, and begged to see the pupils of the 
Establishment. As one by one they passed before 
him, he finally recognised his own son, in spite of his 
disguise, and now imparted to the authorities his in- 
tention of removing him from the establishment. Uu- 
conscious that the Government had interested itself on 
behalf of their victim, they refused to deliver him, until 
the Doctor exhibited his order, and intimated that a 
body of soldiers were outside, ready to act in case of 
an emergency. They were then fain to submit ; and the 
boy was allowed to return home with his father. He is 
a youth of a very handsome and pre-possessing appear- 
ance, and apparently very intelligent j but so disgrace- 
fullyhad his education been neglected for the mummery 
of idolatry, that he could actually speak no language 
fluently, not even the Italian, or Latin, in which he was 
wont to be addressed. Of English, he had some smat- 
tering ; but could with difficulty answer my questions. 

Whatever may be its precepts, it will be almost uni- 
versally allowed, that the practice of a faith such as 
this, is about the greatest scourge that can be inflicted 
on a country. The Greeks, debased as they are by a 
scarcely less puerile superstition are, happily, exempt 
from the dark designs and crafty system of intrigue 
pursued by their Roman rivals. Moreover, even under 



280 COUNT F , AND HIS SAD HISTORY. 

the modified form of simple toleration, meted out to 
the Roman Catholic clergy in their own country and in 
the East, the Greeks have long learnt to view them with 
an abhorrence which they are at no pains to conceal. 
I had occasion to come into collision with the schemes 
of one of these sainted gentlemen, in a matter which I 
shall proceed to relate : — While residing at Corfu, I had 

formed the acquaintance of a Count F , a Milanese 

nobleman, of an age similar to my own ; he had for- 
merly held the post of Lieutenant in the Imperial 
Guard in Vienna : but, on the breaking out of the 
revolution, the Italian and Hungarian components 
of the force were suspected and disbanded; and the 
officer found himself suddenly shut out from a 
brilliant career. On his return to his native city, 
he found the prospect of things at home anything but 
encouraging. Only a small portion of his father's 
property had been as yet inherited by his sons ; the 
mother retained in her hands the bulk of the estate, 
and she had of late become so infatuated as to lavish 
it on the Romish priesthood. Her children hated the 
priests and their religion, with the undying hate with 
which the rising generation of Italians are animated 
towards it. The misfortunes of his country contributed, 
with causes such as these, to bring on a fit of dejection, 
to alleviate which the young officer was recommended 
by his friends to travel. He acquiesced, and was at 
Bologna when that place fell into the hands of the 
Austrians. The police were not to be satisfied with his 
assertion that he was a stranger to the political move- 
ment ; they refused to believe that he could have visited 
Bologna at such a time on motives of pleasure, and 
ordered his incarceration. At the expiration of a year, 
his brother succeeded in bribing the mistress of the 



CONDUCT OF THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY. 281 

Austrian commandant, and lie was set at liberty. No 
long time elapsed ere lie arrived at Corfu. He pro- 
fessed a great wish to accompany me into the East, 
and I found him duly expecting me at Patras. At 
Athens, we remained together for some time, but I had 
preceded him by some days to Constantinople. On 
his arrival at that place, he unburthened himself to me of 
all his griefs, and intimated his intention of making 
away with himself. I remonstrated with him against 
such an idea; but I must confess that I doubted, on 
many grounds, the firmness of his resolution, and treated 
the whole affair as a jest. On one occasion, he asked 
me to take possession of all his effects, and, after 
sending a memento to his friends, to dispose of the rest 
at my discretion. Shortly afterwards, in paying my 
usual morning visit, I was startled by the maitre 
d' hotel, with the information that he had actually 
carried his threats into execution. It appeared that he 
had taken a caique to Fanari, on the Asiatic side, had 
there shot himself with a pistol, which was found on 
the ground near him by a Turk, who had left him 
weltering in his blood to rouse the nearest military 
post, and that he had been carried in great agony by the 
soldiers to the house of the Romish priest at Kadykeui. 
Thither then I hurried, as quickly as possible, and 
found my unhappy friend in the state described. The 
Italian doctor assured me that he could not pos- 
sibly live twenty-four hours, it being impossible to 
extract the ball. 

The Austrian Embassy, with the rapidity of its 
own eagle, had already scented out the dying man, 
and I found one of the clerks taking an inventory 
of the spoil. I intimated that I had been left my 
friend's executor, and that I intended to act as such 



282 THE BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 

that the Austrian Embassy was the last place in the 
world to which he would resort for a measure such 
as they appeared to contemplate ; and that as an 
Italian, he loathed the oppressors of his country. On 
discovering from the baggage then on the spot, that 
there were scarcely sufficient effects to cover the cost 
of the funeral, the Austrian retired. The priest I 
found scarcely less eager to serve his own turn from 
the melancholy occurrence. A number of the inha- 
bitants warned me of his artifices. To save, therefore, 
the property and valuables which my friend had left 
at the hotel at Galata, I induced his agents to write 
to his relations in Milan to acquaint them with the 
occurrence, being prevented from taking that step 
myself by a pledge I had before unthinkingly given 
to him. Strange to say, the ball had passed sideways 
and having remained lodged in the flesh, thanks to the 
corpulence of his person, had injured no vital part. 
In three weeks he was convalescent, and his brothers 
had him removed to an hotel in Pera. Whether or no 
he caught cold in crossing the water, I cannot say; 
but he was soon seized with an attack of fever. On 
quitting Constantinople, I left him hurrying to the 
tomb, having had the satisfaction of discharging all 
the duties of friendship that could be expected of me. 

It was on a personal matter connected with my 
friend' s affairs, that I had occasion to communicate with 
the British Consul- General at Constantinople. Perhaps 
I had formed too high an expectation of the suavity 
and attention to business becoming so highly paid a 
functionary ; but however the case might be, I had not 
calculated upon meeting with a rebuff at the very door 
of the Consulate, such as the humblest British subject 
would have a right to feel aggrieved at. The British 



DESCRIPTION OF AN INTERVIEW WITH THAT OFFICER. 283 

Consul-General at Constantinople receives a salary, in 
eluding fees of nearly two thousand pounds per annum. 

The office may be no sinecure, yet its duties, important 
as they may nominally appear, having reference exclu- 
sively to the haut commerce, are comprised within the 
smallest compass. The functionary lives in one of the 
best houses of Pera ; he is noted alike for his arrogance 
and ignorance. Rumour, ever busy in the cities of the 
Levant, ascribes his elevation to aristocratic favoritism, 
and indulges in details such as I do not think it right to 
transcribe. Whether correctly or incorrectly, his ap- 
pointment is reputed to have met with the disapproval 
of the Ambassador. In proportion to his assumption, is 
his inaccessibility. Kavasses check your progress at 
the entrance. You pass this impediment, and a line of 
kennels, containing pointers and setters, when your 
summons at the door of the mansion is answered by a 
Greek servant, who acquaints you that his master is 
engaged. You can wait then until he is disengaged. 
But he bars you from admission. Can it be the British 
Consul who lives here ? ask you in your wonderment. 
Yes, then tell him that a British subject requests an 
interview, and begs that he may be allowed to sit down 
in his office until he is ready to receive him. The 
veracity of the statement respecting his engagement, at 
least on the business of his office, is belied by his imme- 
diately appearing in that apartment which before was 
tenantless. The Greek servitor remains in the room to 
listen to your conversation. You politely intimate that 
you will be happy to enter on the subject on which you 
have sought his presence as soon as the attendant is 
dismissed. As soon as you are tete a tete, you wonder 
what can have induced vou to seek information from so 
supercilious and ignorant a personage. You came to 



284 EXPOSURE OF VARIOUS ABUSES. 

ask his advice on certain points connected with the lex 
loci ; lie knows, or affects to know nothing,, and you depart 
as wise as you came. I must refrain from making any- 
thing more than an allusion to the strong opinion which 
the merchant-captains frequenting Constantinople and 
the Black Sea have formed respecting this functionary. 
They, it will be said, are passionate and violent men, and 
through ignorance, impute motives such as a distempered 
imagination would conjure up from the constant, though 
it may he accidental, occurrence of unlooked-for contin- 
gencies. But it is a great misfortune, as well as an absurd 
anomaly, that the Consul- General should be wholly 
independent of the Ambassador; for it gives rise to 
nothing but blunders, losses, and inconveniences. Just 
previously to my arrival at Constantinople, representa- 
tions had been made to Sir Stratford Canning by parties 
most seriously injured by the incapacity, wilfulness, and 
tardiness of the Consul-Greneral. Sir Stratford was 
generally supposed to have admonished him; but the 
official himself made no secret of his entire independ- 
ence of any superior. 

The most glaring abuses are in consequence permitted 
to transpire without an attempt at correction. A Scotch 
engineer, who had been formerly employed on the Aus- 
trian Lloyd's, and subsequently, in the same capacity, 
on an English vessel, having been seized with a violent 
fever, made application for admittance into the British 
Hospital, an institution supported by the dues payable 
by every British sailor. Although the man was clearly 
in a dangerous state, he was refused admittance, on the 
ground that the privileges of the institution could only 
be shared by sailors, and, that as an engineer, he did 
not come within the prescribed rules. Frenzied at this 
barbarous refinement, the man declared that they must 



GREEK CHICANE AND BRITISH NEGLIGENCE. 285 

remove him by force ; and, seating himself on the floor 
of the hall, looked, to use the words of a bystander, as 
if he were only preserved from death by the indignation 
to which he was excited by their cruelty. He was raised 
up, however, by the Turkish gendarmes, and placed in 
the street to die, if he had continued there many hours. 
Fortunately, a benevolent fellow-countryman, confiding 
in French generosity, ran on to the French hospital, the 
lady superior of which at once consented to admit the 
sufferer, on condition that his preserver would guarantee 
the payment of his actual maintenance. There the poor 
fellow received the greatest kindness and attention, and 
recovered after the lapse of a month. 

I shall not stop to weigh the official pedantry which 
left a fellow-countryman to perish, or to be taken in by 
strangers, when there was a richly-endowed institution, 
with ample means at hand, to receive him ; but shall 
proceed to show in what manner our Consular system 
in the East operates, in relation to the interests of 
British commerce. The soul of commerce is generally 
supposed to be credit. There can be no credit where 
there is no faith : we have to show, then, the causes of 
a want of faith ; and, for that purpose, we have little 
more to do than to quote an established axiom which 
has prevailed in the Levant from time immemorial, that 
no reliance can be placed on the word of either Greek 
or Armenian. To all general principles, there are ex- 
ceptions ; and there are individuals of either people who 
are behind none in probity and fair dealing. It is the 
mass, however, with which we have to deal. But, it 
will be said, a species of credit does, and indeed must, 
to some extent, prevail in the East, as elsewhere ; and it 
is to this class that the case, of which we are about to 
speak, refers. A poor Scotch engineer, thrown out of 



286 ILLUSTRATED IN THE CASE OF A BRITISH SUBJECT. 

employment through, some unforeseen casualty, was 
induced to enter into a contract with a Greek capitalist, 
to undertake the distillation of whiskey, in a country 
district ; in return for which he was to be fed and 
clothed at his expense, and to receive besides a half of the 
proceeds arising from the sale of the article. The 
proprietor farther bound himself under the penalty of 
one hundred pounds, to maintain the contract inviolate, 
unless it were dissolved by mutual consent. For a time, 
the parties pulled together admirably. Ere long, how- 
ever, the Greek bethought himself of a more profitable 
outlet for his surplus capital, and cogitated on the 
readiest means of ridding himself of the incubus on his 
prospective advancement. He now pronounced the 
whiskey execrable, and sent a specimen to some of his 
compatriots at Constantinople, who, true to their cha- 
racter, returned an answer in accordance with his 
instructions. The Scotchman, however, had also pri- 
vately sent a sample, and to his appeal the English 
houses returned for answer, that they would be prepared 
to purchase any quantity he could supply, at the market 
price of the article. Foiled on this side, the Greek now 
averred that both parties had agreed to the abandonment 
of the contract, and, after suborning a number of his 
countrymen in the village to confirm his statement, shut 
up the distillery, and, at a moment's notice, and without 
any compensation, turned his unfortunate partner adrift 
to shift for himself, as well as he could. For a moment, 
overcome by the calamity, the luckless man yielded to 
his fate, and sank under it; but, as soon as he had 
regained a portion of his energies, he drew up a state- 
ment of his case, and submitted it to the British 
Consul. 

The matter had already been litigated two years when 



A CURIOUS AND IMPARTIAL TRIBUNAL. 287 

I arrived . at Constantinople, and lias since been aban- 
doned in despair by the unfortunate plaintiff. What 
progress had been made during that long interval ? The 
case had been, in the first instance, brought before the 
Greek Consul, who appointed two Commissioners for the 
defendant, both friends and fellow-countrymen; the 
plaintiff, who could only nominate one Commissioner, 
was also advised to have recourse to another Greek to 
act for him in the matter. How was the case brought 
before a tribunal thus impartially constituted? One 
might have supposed, as the contract had been signed, 
sealed, and ratified, at the respective Consulates, and no 
annulment in any form, legal or otherwise, had been 
submitted to the same authority, the British Consulate 
would have placed the matter upon that issue, and 
suffered no collateral question to arise to disturb it. 
The strong ground upon which they should have stood 
was, however, abandoned at the outset, and ample scope 
was thereby afforded fer the interminable chicane and 
perjury to which a Greek will so unscrupulously resort. 
The latter brought up his perjured array; the plaintiff 
could not prove a negative ; the two Greeks accordingly 
decided in favour of their countryman, in defiance of the 
protest of the Commissioner for the plaintiff. The case, 
notwithstanding, could not be allowed to pass over in 
this manner. For months it rested in abeyance, until 
the plaintiff demanded a new trial. This time he 
selected an English merchant to act as his Commis- 
sioner ; as often, however, as the case was about to come 
on for adjudication, one or other of the Commissioners 
were absent. Things were in this state when I arrived. 
I was requested by the plaintiff and his friends to take 
up the case. I did so; but, after a very unsatisfac- 
tory correspondence with the Consul-General, the only 



288 COMMERCE OF WESTERN EUROPE PARALYSED. 

information I derived was, that the Commission was not 
a Commission of Arbitration, but a Commission to try ; 
that he had no jurisdiction in the case; and further, 
that he had no power to require that it should be tried 
in any other manner. He omitted, however, to refer 
to the improper shape in which the matter had been 
allowed to be taken cognizance of by the Greek 
authorities. 

To whomsoever the blame of this state of things is 
to be attributed, I think my readers will unanimously 
agree with me, that it is time the system should deter- 
mine speedily and for ever. So flagrant a mockery of 
justice is without a parallel, even among the most bar- 
barous and despotically-ruled communities. By reason 
of their extensive commercial operations, our country- 
men are naturally the greatest sufferers by the system ; 
hence is to be attributed the cause of the gradual decay 
of our Levant trade ; hence the disappearance, one by 
one, of all the firms which rendered our commercial 
position respectable. But let any Frenchman, German, 
Italian, or American, be asked what confidence any one 
of them has in any court in which a Greek or Armenian 
defendant can exercise a predominant influence, and 
they will spontaneously answer — none whatever. In 
point of fact, they are seldom or never known to litigate 
a case, preferring rather the first loss to the perpetual 
vexation and expense attendant upon a prosecution. In 
nine cases out of ten, the same course is adopted by the 
English, a reluctance, which has so emboldened the 
Greeks and Armenians, that, whenever an opportunity 
presents itself, they seldom or never hesitate to adopt 
every species of artifice to elude a settlement. Frauds 
like this necessarily paralyse all commerce ; and let it 
be recollected, that two-thirds of the commerce of the 



PROTEUS-LIKE TRANSFORMATIONS OF A GREEK. 289 

Levant pass directly or indirectly through the hands of 
Armenians and Greeks. When to these unfair advantages 
are added their subtlety, the perfect acquaintance they 
possess of the Oriental character, their influence with the 
Government, and their control over its various de- 
partments, the wonder is that Western Europe has been 
enabled to withstand so unequal and ruinous a compe- 
tition so long. No amount of energy or pertinacity will 
succeed to secure the recovery of a debt from a Greek 
when fraudulently disposed. Even supposing him to be 
a Greek subject; and the case to have been pressed 
against him so closely, that no apparent means of extri- 
cation from his embarrassments remain, he will, Proteus- 
like, abandon his nationality and become a rayah. That 
step at once renders all the proceedings hitherto taken 
null and void ; and should the plaintiff be still deter- 
mined to proceed, the affair has to be submitted to a 
Turkish court. There the Greek is sure to come off 
victor, even supposing the case ever likely to come to a 
conclusion, for he can bribe the judges, where his 
antagonist cannot ; and to render the matter still more 
certain, he can always levant, if the worst should happen, 
with impunity. The Americans, who are generally 
reputed to be the least deficient in acuteness and enter- 
prise of any people now existing, have failed, even more 
signally than ourselves, in maintaining their footing in 
the Levant. One by one have they abandoned the 
trade in despair. The only American now remaining 
there is a commission- agent, who, if I am informed 
aright, could unfold some singular tales of American loss 
incurred by a reliance on Greek and Armenian honesty. 
But it has not been in commercial enterprise alone that 
they and the people of Western Europe have suffered. 
They, and the English more especially, have been the 

o 



290 TURKISH ATTEMPTS AT MANUFACTURE. 

means of introducing whatever manufactures are now 
to be found within the Turkish dominions ; they have 
been its ship-builders, its iron-founders, its cotton- 
spinners, its printers; in fact, the mechanics of the 
empire. It is true none of these undertakings have 
repaid their original outlay, all have been carried on at 
a heavy loss ; why, we shall presently see ; but as the 
agents of the work, they, at all events, have done their 
best to ensure success."* One by one have they been 

* Of all the various peoples with whom it has ever been my 
lot to come into contact, the Armenians are at once the most 
thoroughly selfish and grasping. They are not a penurious 
people ; on the contrary, the money they earn by dint of fraud, 
or, to say the least, a singular disregard of character, is lavished 
with a careless hand as soon as it is obtained. But a love of 
self predominates, and is seen to pervade every action of their 
lives. The settlement of Europeans in the East is one of their 
peculiar objects of aversion. Strange to say, this antipathy concurs 
with the policy pursued by the Turkish Government, which in 
like manner fears the settlement of strangers. To prevent the 
imaginary danger, a law has been recently enacted, forbidding the 
purchase or possession of lands or houses by any other than a 
Turk or Eayah. Formerly a European had a right, through his 
wife, to become possessed of what property he might think proper 
to purchase ; the Turkish Government, with a professed chivalry, 
taking women under its special protection. Now the case is 
altered ; and it is only by a connexion by marriage with a Turkish 
subject that a right to property can be established. The law is, 
of course, evaded by every species of subterfuge : property is 
held in the name of servants, but more commonly of Turks 
themselves, on whose honour the strictest reliance is deservedly 
placed. But to render the matter still more certain, the Turk 
gives a bond, generally in excess of the value of the property, 
which is retained as a check against every contingency. It is 
more to be hoped than expected that the Ottoman Government 
will discover the folly of such legislation, and henceforth favour 
and protect, rather than oppose, the colonization of her vast 
Wastes. The right even to erect a mill, or engage in any private 



HOW DIRECTED TO THEIR PURPOSE BY ARMENIANS. 291 

undermined by Greek or Armenian craft, and displaced 
to make room for them or their proteges, ignorant or 
incapable as they might chance to be. But to revert to 
the original question — How far can justice be assured 

undertaking, however insignificant, is made a question of patent, 
the profits of which are appropriated by the Government func- 
tionaries. Thus the right to grind corn by steam pertains to the 
sisters of a French convent, which they have found it necessary 
to purchase ; and when one of their countrymen imported ma- 
chinery, and, in ignorance of the law, had begun to rear the 
foundation of a rival establishment, a complaint was made to the 
sultan by an officer in his suite, and the building was ordered to 
be demolished forthwith. From so glaring a specimen of mis- 
rule, the reader may be disposed to infer that Turkey would be 
benefited by a change of masters. A little reflection will shew 
that the evils which I have depicted not only could not diminish, 
but might even increase, under Eussian auspices. We all know 
the rottenness of the Russian system, how the germ of every 
corruption is already implanted therein, and how, despite of all 
the vigilance of the emperor, the most enormous peculations are 
of weekly occurrence. How, then, could the Russians check the 
present system 1 But granting that they could, the evil would 
re-appear immediately, under a new and less transparent guise. 
It is only fair to infer, that if they cannot eradicate corruption 
in Russia, where they are cognisant of the means employed to 
deceive, they will prove still more incompetent in tracing it, 
when pursued by Greeks and Armenians. Again, as far as liberty 
and the happiness of the human family are concerned, will any 
one for a moment compare the condition of the Turk with his 
religious republic, of which the sultan is president, to the all- 
absorbing power of the Czar, felt through every subordinate, 
and known only as a crushing tyranny. No ! the population of 
Turkey is, at least, more free and happy than that of its neigh- 
bour ; and though it cannot count such lofty palaces, noble 
streets, great armies, and other evidences of the machinery of 
power, it can at least claim for itself (what, after all, is the more 
important consideration), that it gives the greater happiness to 
the greater number. 



292 SUGGESTIONS FOR A CONTINENTAL TRIBUNAL. 

to British subjects, and by what agency are their rights 
most likely to be protected ? It would be presumptuous 
in me to more than indicate the mode, patent as it may 
be. The first to suggest itself is a board of Vice-consuls, 
or properly qualified legal persons, chosen from the re- 
spective embassies, any three of whom might be chosen 
in rotation for a day's sitting, and before whom a case 
should be judged on its simple merits ; or, if a legal 
tribunal were requisite, a competent judge might be 
selected from any one of the four great nations, and a 
code, formed from the Code Napoleon, but simplified, to 
meet the exigencies of the particular case, might be 
introduced. The pleadings and proceedings generally, 
should be carried on in the Italian language. 

I have now performed the duty I have imposed upon 
myself in calling attention to this crying evil ; it must 
devolve on abler hands to weigh and mature my sug- 
gestions. None can be fitter to take the initiative in 
so important a measure than the high-minded and 
elevated Canning, the illustrious representative of British 
interests at the Ottoman Court. For him, I, in common 
with all the world, have the deepest veneration and 
respect. He is regarded, and justly, by the Turks as 
the father of their country; — more than once he has 
stepped forward as its saviour. The imperium in imperio, 
which his transcendant abilities and lofty patriotism 
have justly earned for him over the destinies of Turkey, 
has never been exercised for the exclusive benefit of any 
single nation, but for the common interests of humanity. 
I am sure our American brethren will ever have reason 
to venerate his memory. Stepping beyond the narrow 
limit which separates us from our Trans-atlantic off- 
spring, he has, in every case, supported their interests, 
as if he had been specially retained in their behalf, with 



SIR STRATFORD CANNING PARAMOUNT INFLUENCE. 293 

a vigour and disinterestedness as yet unknown in the 
annals of diplomacy. 

A corrective to the evil I have so inadequately de- 
scribed, lies not with him, as I have before remarked, 
unless he receive new and enlarged powers adequate to 
its removal. Wherever British interests have been 
submitted to his keeping, they have been sustained with 
energy and success. The first of living diplomatists, 
by his advocacy of enlarged views on every question, 
he has gone far to redeem what was fast becoming an 
exploded science, and degenerating into bootless subtle- 
ties and petty Machiavellism, from the stigma which 
was so justly attached to it. Long may he live to 
protect the civilization of the West against the aggres- 
sion of the northern hordes, and remain the powerful 
agent for the diffusion of light, truth, and a spirit of 
justice, among the fallen children of the East ! 

It was a proud day for him, when, standing at 
Unkiar Skelessi, as the representative of the most 
powerful nation of the world, he forbade the Russian 
fleet from proceeding, as it had threatened, to seize 
upon the Ottoman capital. Perhaps that was the most 
imminent danger rtt which Turkey ever has been or 
ever will be placed. As years have rolled on, the Czar 
must have discovered the insuperable obstacles to the 
success of his darling project. England and France, 
thanks to modern science, are as near the object of his 
cravings as himself. Russia, to men of foresight, has 
ceased to be the bugbear of Turkey ; it is the Greek 
she has now cause to apprehend and none other. 

I have spoken of the ill-success of the Turks in 
attempting to naturalize European manufactures within 
the Ottoman territory. Under any circumstances, such 
a result might readily be expected. Who ever heard 



294 CUPIDITY OF TURKISH EMPLOYES, 

of a government becoming a manufacturer, and its 
subjects profiting thereby, even under the most econo- 
mical management, and a practice of the most perfect 
system of integrity. Could, however, the originators 
of these establishments, and did they, anticipate any 
other than a wholesale system of malversation from the 
very commencement? Rather did they not deem it 
necessary to strike out a new plan through which to 
plunder the state, the old ones having become too trans- 
parent; and did not this suggest itself as the readiest 
and most certain : wearing, as it did, the guise of 
patriotism. What then do we find? That at least a 
third of the various articles manufactured at the vari- 
ous establishments are abstracted by the pashas for 
their own private purposes, as soon as they are com- 
pleted. That the stores are robbed by them and their 
subordinates at discretion, and that false entries are 
made in the public books to an almost incredible 
extent. On more than one occasion I have been myself 
an eye-witness with how infinitely small a sum you may 
gain over a Turkish underling. I employed an agent 
to clear the baggage of my Italian friend at the cus- 
tom-house in Galata. The authorities were, at that 
time, particularly jealous of the importation of books, 
the Armenian priests having loudly complained to 
the government of the attempts made to proselyte 
through that agency, by the American missionaries. 
They were, therefore, in a manner prohibited.' In 
return for a piastre (2\d. English), which the agent 
slipped into his hand, the douanier was induced to 
pass the baggage almost without examination, and 
turned aside as soon as he saw the books. 

Under a proper system of supervision, the customs 
duties are of themselves capable of supporting the 



AND AN EXPOSURE OF THEIR FRAUDS. 295 

entire expenditure of the state. At present they chiefly 
find their way into the pockets of the Armenian farmer ; 
and, whatever benefit individual officials may derive from 
them, the Turkish government receives little or nothing. 
To the English reader all this, and what more I could 
relate, naturally appears incredible. Were he on the 
spot, his astonishment would cease at the instant. 
While reading such statements in his easy chair, he is 
induced to ask, — What is the Sultan about ? Are there 
no honest men in Turkey ? Certainly there are : but 
honest men are very frequently deficient in the inflexi- 
bility of purpose, and the dauntless courage requisite 
to proceed against such fearful odds, and unmask cor- 
ruption. Conscious of his powerlessness to avert the evil 
the honest man then sits blindfold while the robbery is 
being committed. As for the Sultan, he may never 
have heard of what is transpiring, or, with all his 
affection for his subjects, he may be a mere cypher, 
incapable of remedying such abuses. But, were he as 
energetic as his father, and were he again to make the 
Seven Towers the receptacle and place of punishment of 
the vultures by whom he is surrounded ; were he to bow- 
string never so many of these hardened culprits, 
what then ? The system has taken far too deep a root 
ever to be so eradicated. An offender is now and 
then emboldened to diverge from the beaten track 
and commit too glaring and palpable a fraud, or appro- 
priate too huge a spoil ; his fellows become alarmed, or 
are rendered jealous, and determine to betray him. 
What is the consequence ? A hungry, needy follower 
of the government is immediately put in his place. He 
proceeds, perhaps, with great dexterity and sharpened 
appetite to trace the malversations of his predecessor. 
Or he may at once enter into collusion with the accused, 



296 DETECTION IS NO REMEDY FOR THE EVIL. 

and at the price of a handsome bribe, gloss over Iris 
enormities, and reduce them to some infinitesimal 
degree of culpability. Let us suppose he pursues the 
former course. He profits by it none the less, and 
quickly satiates himself. Now he has a vested interest 
to protect. Visions of a palace at Stamboul, and a 
retired otium cum dignitate in the winter of his years are 
already presented to his eyes. Thenceforth, he, too, 
perceives that it is equally practicable for himself to 
live, thrive and fatten on the public spoil. 

Two years ago, one of the principal Armenians in 
the service of government was accused of a series of 
peculations, and imprisoned. Whether from a previous 
understanding with his accusers, or from some appre- 
hension that he might betray them, in case matters 
were carried too far, his son was immediately appointed 
to the vacant post, and the father was released after 
a brief incarceration. How this gentleman conducted 
the business over which he was set, was a matter of 
public notoriety ! There is a sad want of trusty public 
auditors in this land of Turkey ! Otherwise it is hard 
to see how three or four thousand tons of coals, or as 
many of ship timber, find their way so frequently into 
the public accounts without ever having arrived at their 
destination. There are English subordinates, honorable 
men too, who have been made privy to these frauds, 
yet conscious of the futility, and the no less imminent 
danger of exposing them, have been content to accept 
the humble donatives the more powerful birds of prey 
have vouchsafed to fling them. 

How many millions have been sunk over the giant 
structures, in which those piece-goods, that ornamental 
iron work, and a hundred other articles have been 
fabricated, I am almost afraid to say ; but it has been 



OBJECTS TO WHICH STATE PROPERTY IS APPLIED. 297 

calculated that any first-rate house in Manchester will 
turn out as many yards of print in three months as 
they are here capable of producing in a year. Costly 
as are the appliances, compared with their insignificant 
results, a screw is continually found to be loose in 
the organization. Either the designers are not ready, 
with their patterns, or the dyes have not arrived from 
England, or some other impediment obstructs the pro- 
gress of business. 

To judge of the resources of the state by the offices 
in which its public business is transacted, more espe- 
cially in the districts remote froni the capital, you 
might suppose the empire to be on the verge of bank- 
ruptcy. For what purpose then are designed all these 
gorgeous iron castings, and that beautifully wrought 
tracery which you are told are intended to adorn the 
entrance of some provincial pashalic ? For the private 
use of his highness as soon as he is liberated from 
the weighty duties of office, and is able to retire on 
his well-earned gains into a splendid retreat at Stamboul, 
or on the banks of the Bosphorus. Some speculative 
Americans had established a steamer to ply between 
Galata and Byukdere. It met with a mishap, and 
when raised, was consigned to Stamboul for repairs. 
When overhauled, it was found to be in a leaky con- 
dition, and its owners were willing to listen to the terms 
proposed for its purchase by two cunning Pashas. 
It was sold for what purpose, think you ? To be 
completely refitted at Zeitoun Bournou, at the expense 
of the government, and then to be engaged again, as 
private speculation by those honorable men. But 
why quote example after example, to prove the ruin 
accruing to the country from this gigantic and well- 
organised system of fraud? Simply to show that 

o3 



298 OSMANLI CHARACTER REMOVED FROM TEMPTATION. 

to it, in great measure, is to be ascribed the gradual 
but unerring decay of the Turkish empire. In the 
Osmanli character, where uncontaminated by the per- 
nicious influence of bad example, will be found to 
abide much of that primitive nobility of character, 
which, however sullied by ferocity, elevated the country 
for a time to the first position among European 
states, there still remains much of that simple dignity and 
personal courage, which rendered them such for- 
midable antagonists to Eastern Europe. But what 
avails isolated virtue against concentrated and organised 
vice ? Were a Pombal to arise, and for a brief moment 
to stem the tide of infamy, where is his successor? 
Wherever the Oriental parasite fixes itself to the 
monarch, however lordly, of the forest, natural history 
tells us the monarch step by step succumbs, and 
becomes the inanimate log a child may topple over. 
Such will be the fate of Turkey, such of Russia, per- 
haps ; unless the evil be checked in the latter country 
by some violent uprising of the popular impulses. 

During the period of my residence at Constantinople, 
a number of those devastating fires, the ruinous effects 
of which can scarcely be appreciated in a country like 
ours, where the measures for extinguishing them are of 
so prompt and efficacious character, succeeded each 
other with frightful rapidity. Owing to the elevated 
and sloping position of the various quarters of the 
capital, the narrowness of the streets, and the inequali- 
ties of the trottoirs, which render them impassable for 
carriages, no efficient engines for the extinction of 
a great conflagration are to be found within the circum- 
ference of the giant city. A primitive sort of box, with 
which two men can run with ease, but which is utterly 
inadequate for the purpose for which it was designed, 



FIRES AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 299 

is, therefore, the only remedial measure that can be 
applied. When, then, the reader is informed that the 
aforesaid machine will contain no more than five or six 
gallons of water at any one time, and that, in conse- 
quence of the want of reliance manifested towards their 
employers by the Armenian porters, the instruments 
generally employed on these occasions, every bucket has 
to be paid for, at the time and on the spot, he will form 
some notion of the rapid and fatal progress of a great fire. 
The stranger residing at Galata, or any central spot, can 
readily gain the earliest intelligence of these events, 
by means of the certain and unerring indicia, which 
nature, taking compassion on human helplessness, 
has suggested for the occasion. No sooner has a fire 
broken out in any quarter, than the hordes of dogs, 
bivouacing in its vicinity, raise a shrill and sus- 
tained howl, which is borne without interruption, and 
in an instant, by their fellows along the whole area of 
the metropolis. The lofty towers on either side of the 
Golden Horn are then quickly ascended, and the locality 
of the fire is designated. Soon the watchmen hurry 
along the streets, repeating the tidings acquired from 
canine sagacity. The whole city is on the qui vive in a 
moment, and rushes out of doors to the quarter indi- 
cated. Then the gates and bridges, which divide the 
metropolis into so many departments, are thrown open, 
and the multitude is free to roam at pleasure. It has 
often suggested itself to me, on these occasions, that the 
Greeks, who will, one day or other, assuredly seize upon 
the theatre of their former glory, will make the 
occurrence of a fire the medium by which to accomplish 
their design. At present, these conflagrations are sup- 
posed, in most cases, to be the work of incendiaries, 
Greek, Maltese, or Ionian plunderers, the scum of the 



300 IONIANS AND MALTESE THE SUPPOSED INCENDIARIES. 

population, who contrive to appropriate to themselves 
a considerable spoil with the occurrence of every similar 
accident. In the month of July, three fires broke out 
simultaneously at three different points. The first, in 
the rear of the French Embassy, was not stayed before 
sixty-four houses had fallen a prey ; the second, carried 
off twenty-four; the third, twelve. In this manner 
vast wastes are to be found in every quarter of the city ; 
for it is a considerable time before the impoverished 
proprietor has the courage to clear the ruins, and erect 
new houses on their site. From these causes house-rent 
is excessively high, both at Pera and Galata ; and since 
its liability to casualties renders the wooden house far 
more costly, in the end, than one of brick or stone, the 
prevalence of incendiarism has effectually prevented the 
establishment of any system of insurance. The 
Maltese and Ionians had long been a scourge to the 
peaceably disposed inhabitants of the capital, and every 
means had been tried by the Turkish Government, but 
in vain, to rid themselves of the incubus, for the 
British Embassy had invariably interposed to throw its 
shield of protection over these banditti ; till, at length, 
the Government was induced to offer the ambassador 
guarantees for their proper treatment during incarcera- 
tion, and a fair trial afterwards, and prevailed upon him 
to permit their apprehension. Before, then, they could 
possibly gain an inkling of the fate in store for them, 
some hundreds of the more hardened malefactors were 
arrested and clapped into a Turkish prison, much to the 
satisfaction of the whole population. 

The Ionians and Maltese are the most numerous of 
all the British subjects in the Levant. They are to be 
met with in every part of the coasts of the Mediterra- 
nean and Black seas. From Algiers to Egypt, from 



CONFUSION OF THE ENGLISH IN THE TURKISH MIND. 301 

Egypt to Constantinople, from Constantinople to Trebi- 
zond, from Trebizond to Varna, and from Varna to 
Dalmatia; no subject of the British crown exacts, and 
none obtain, a more complete and effective protection 
for life and property. The majority too frequently abuse 
the privilege, and adopt it as the cloak of their bad 
designs ; but I am happy to state that there are excep- 
tions to the allegation ; and that in two or three cases 
which fell within my own observation, the Ionians, 
settled in the maritime towns of the Danube, behaved 
in the most noble and generous manner to distressed 
British subjects, who had been engaged in the Hunga- 
rian struggle, and relieved their necessities, in a manner 
to call forth my acknowledgments in behalf of the 
objects of their charity. Nevertheless, the British 
character cannot be said to have been exalted in the 
estimation of the Turks by our defence of our insular 
protegees. The Turks are not ethnologists ; and as often 
as they are reminded of the preponderance of mauvais 
sujets, who style themselves Inglesas, the moment they 
are caught in flagrante delicto, they are naturally 
disposed to class all of us under the came category. 

However beautiful the environs of Constantinople on 
the European side may be considered, I confess those 
on the Asiatic had for me the greater attraction. No 
sooner has one fairly emerged, at any point of the 
compass, from the town of Scutari (the ancient Chalce- 
don) than scenery of the grandest description, and 
finest colouring, meets the eye at every turn. Let us 
suppose ourselves at the western terminus of that vast 
cemetery, appropriately planted with the funereal cypress, 
and extending on every side far away beyond the 
range of sight. In our rear are the Golden Horn, 
Stamboul, Galata, and unnumbered beauties. To the 



302 SCUTARI AND THE ASIATIC ENVIRONS. 

north-west is the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora, 
adorned with the palace-like manufactories, reared by 
Turkish inexperience. Beyond, stretches the long out- 
line of the coast; inland, the undulating plain of 
Adrianople. To the south, the eye embraces the 
long line of the Sea of Marmora, capped in the 
interior by Mount Olympus. To the south-east, is 
the gulf of Nicomedia; inland, a bold range of hills. 
At one's feet, is the beautiful group called the Prince's 
Islands, where the Colossus of Rhodes was fashioned 
and cast. Nearer still, are the Kadykeui and Fanari, 
presenting a sea of verdure ; contrasting so beautifully 
with the dark foliage of the cypress, and somewhat 
with the parched plain, from which the eye embraces 
all these glorious objects. Whether from her position, 
or the superior condition of her inhabitants, the town 
of Scutari, though containing a population of more 
than one hundred thousand souls, is less offensively 
squalid than her European sisters : her streets are kept 
in tolerable order, and numerous pleasant villas dot her 
vicinity in all directions, even up to the foot of Three-tree 
Hill. From that commanding spot, a magnificent spec- 
tacle presents itself, embracing many of the objects 
already mentioned ; besides including within its range 
the plain of Nicomedia, which can be commanded in a 
straight direction for upwards of sixty miles. Although 
it is intersected by one considerable, and several minor 
streams, the advantages which might accrue from the 
cultivation of the soil, under a proper system of irriga- 
tion, are, as usual, entirely neglected ; and its now arid 
yet naturally fertile surface, that of itself could supply 
the capital in the greatest profusion, with every neces- 
sary and many of the luxuries of life, is chiefly distin- 
guished by the tracks, apparently half a mile in breadth, 



ADVENTURES AT THE FORMER PLACE. 303 

which Eastern travellers, with their wonted carelessness, 
have worn along its vast expanse. 

It was in company with a Greek, that I, for the last 
time, made the ascent of the far-commanding hill. We 
found an aged Greek priest, accompanied by his children, 
on the summit ; who advanced, and seated themselves 
beside us. A Bulgarian hawker next approached with 
his wares. From the conversation which ensued between 
the trio, I gathered a notion of the discontent which 
prevails in reference to the present state of things, and 
of their impatience under the yoke, which has occasioned 
so vast an expanse of fertile soil, within sight of one of 
the largest of the European capitals, to become a 
howling wilderness. It was on this occasion, that I was 
tempted to wander too far into the interior to return to 
Scutari in time for the last passage-boat to Constantino- 
ple. The communication between the straits is closed 
after gun-fire at sunset ; after which the tardy traveller 
is fain to content himself with the accommodation offered 
by the filthy khans. In vain did I hasten as rapidly as 
possible, to the appointed rendezvous. The prospect of 
being benighted became increasingly apparent. In vain 
had my Greek friend offered a bribe, to tempt the 
cupidity of an adventurous cdiqueje. Not a boat would 
answer my hail, on my arrival on the beach. I was 
without a lantern, and dreading arrest, I had returned 
to a khan in the vicinity of one of the principal barracks, 
to learn whether it would be possible to communicate 
with the Greek surgeon attached to it. " You are too 
late," was the reply; "you will not gain admittance 
to-night." I determined, however, to assure myself on 
the point by making the experiment. "Watching the 
sentinel narrowly, as he paced to and fro, I contrived to 
slip in unperceived, and hastening up to the apartments 



304 DEFERENCE PAID TO THE SEX IN TURKEY. 

of my acquaintance, claimed his hospitality and a 
shelter for the night. He was bound for Thrace on the 
morrow, consequently he had packed up all his baggage ; 
but, with true Greek politeness, he insisted upon 
unpacking so much of it as was required to render me 
comfortable ; and I passed, what would otherwise have 
been a sleepless night, in perfect tranquillity. 

On my return to Stamboul, in one of the passage- 
boats, on the following morning, I had an oppor- 
tunity of learning, by personal observation, the degree 
of deference, to employ the mildest term, with 
which the Turkish women are treated by their lords. 
The sun becoming powerful, a stalwart Servian, of our 
party, very politely raised his umbrella, and held it over 
me, so as to shelter me from its scorching rays. At his 
side sat a very masculine and weather-beaten Turkish 
matron, whom the ribs of the umbrella somewhat in- 
convenienced. In a very imperious manner, she com- 
manded him to close it ; and when she found he was 
recalcitrant, she seized it, and shut the offensive instru- 
ment with her own hands. He again opened it, when 
she rose, and seizing him by the hair, belaboured him 
in the most unmerciful manner on the head with her 
clenched fists, until the other passengers and the 
cdiquejes interposed and called upon him to obey her. 
For me the scene was one fraught with a curious interest, 
to witness the submission of so powerful a man to the 
behests of a vindictive old harridan, whom he could 
have toppled over into the water with the movement of 
his little finger. One of two conclusions was to be 
inferred: either he feared that his fellow-passengers 
would, by asserting her cause, humiliate him even more, 
or that he unconsciously bowed to the moral right 
accorded to women in this singular country. During 



MILITARY BARRACKS — KADYKEUI. 305 

the progress of the quarrel, lie had used, it would seem, 
some very offensive expressions, in which a stigma was 
thrown on her chastity. As soon as she had somewhat 
calmed, she inquired of her other neighbour, a Greek, 
whether he thought I understood the Turkish language ; 
and if so, whether I was likely to comprehend the 
injurious epithets. With the view of amusing himself 
and the other passengers, he assured her I was but too well 
acquainted with the language, and whispered to me 
aside the nature of the Servian's insinuations. Looking 
the two other Europeans full in the face, and among 
them were a Frenchman and Italian, she remarked 
quite audibly, that she cared not so much for the effect 
it might have had upon the minds of the others ; but 
that the worst feature of the contretemps had been the 
exposure before the young Englishman. 

Scutari is noted among other notabilities for its bar- 
racks, edifices of gigantic size and extent, capable, in 
themselves, of housing a large army. Some years back 
the interior of one of the largest of these structures had 
been gutted by an appalling fire. Into such consterna- 
tion had the government been thrown by a visitation of 
Providence, such as a little foresight and precaution on 
their own part might have entirely obviated, that they 
had only just found courage to rebuild it. Similar vast 
buildings are applied to the same purpose on the Euro- 
pean side of the strait ; for what purpose, it is difficult 
to imagine, seeing that Turkish indifference or fatalism 
has left open the door to the capital to the only external 
enemy whom they have reason to fear, and barred ad- 
mittance to the allies on whom they hope to count in 
the moment of emergency. A short walk from Scutari 
brings the traveller to Kadykeui. Thanks to the cliff 
on which it is perched, which enables it to enjoy the 



306 PERA AND HER PALACES. 

sea-breeze, and opens to it the most lovely of marine 
scenery, the village is a charming place of resort in the 
summer months. Many of the Greek and foreign mer- 
chants are located there and at Fanari. 

The city of Pera, for so it may properly be termed, it 
being under a different administration, and separated 
from the other cluster of towns by the Genoese wall, 
has undergone wonderful improvements of late years. 
It consists, for the most part, of two main streets, from 
which smaller and lateral streets diverge at certain 
points. The edifices are chiefly European ; among the 
most remarkable, by their grandeur, are the Eussian, 
English, and French palaces, which far surpass anything 
similar in the other capitals of Europe, each country 
having apparently selected Pera as a fitting theatre for 
national rivalry. The Russian Consulate is an edifice 
of scarcely inferior extent. The great proportion of the 
private houses are constructed after the quaint style of 
mediaeval Italy, but the more recent erections have all 
the air of a newly-built region in Tyburnia or Belgravia. 
Below the town to the north-east, stretches the far 
extending Mussulman cemetery, thickly planted with 
the most magnificent cypresses, amid the branches of 
which the pigeon and the turtle dove securely nestle. 
By reason of its charming eminences and graceful undu- 
lation, it admits of being laid out in the most enchant- 
ing manner by the landscape gardener. Like Turkish 
cemeteries in general, it is choked, however, with corpses, 
many of which are so carelessly interred in the winding 
sheet, as to afford little or no obstacle to the inroads of 
the carnivorous animals which make the place their prin- 
cipal resort. In the outskirts of Pera are located the 
artillery and other military barracks, the new Mus- 
sulman college, the Greek, Armenian, and foreign 



GALATA AND HER VENETIAN PALACE. 307 

cemetery, from whence a commanding view is obtained 
of the Bosphoms and the Asiatic shore opposite. 

The town of Galata, situated between Pera and Stam- 
boul, was built and fortified, as every reader of Gibbon 
knows, by the Genoese and Venetians, to protect their 
increasing commerce from the vexations supervision of 
Byzantine jealousy. The population consists almost 
exclusively of Greeks and foreigners, for the few Turks 
still remaining are gradually being elbowed out of the 
locality by their *more adventurous rivals. From its 
position on the slope of the hill, combined with Turkish 
neglect, its streets are almost impassable for carriages, 
and the houses in most quarters have a mean and 
poverty-stricken appearance. It is only in the proximity 
of the old Venetian palace that any vestige of its former 
grandeur is now traceable — and at that point the mas- 
sive grandeur of the more ancient edifices serves to recall 
the splendour of which they were once the scene. Traces 
of the vigilance which the Venetians observed towards 
their Greek allies, are still discernible on the walls of 
these buildings, which, to prevent surprise or treachery, 
were made the receptacle for their oars. Galata, 
like Pera, is separated from the other quarters of the 
metropolis by walls, which are now, in many places, on 
the brink of ruin. 

Stamboul, only a part of which is built on the ruins of 
ancient Byzantium, is of itself a city of colossal size. 
In certain quarters the streets are comparatively straight 
and wide, and there it is adorned by picturesque and 
even handsome residences; but the larger proportion 
of its surface is a labyrinth of squalid huts, on which 
filth and every noxious matter is suffered to fester 
and contaminate the atmosphere ad libitum. With the 
exception of the Seraglio, the Great Bazaar, and the 



308 STAMBOUL SLAVERY IN TURKEY. 

Bureau of the Ministery, every public building is either 
the legacy, or a servile imitation, of Greek magnificence. 
Thus the mosque of Saint Sophia, recently restored to 
much of its pristine splendour, has furnished the model 
for all the similar edifices erected by the Turks ; indeed 
■wherever the grand and noble principles of Byzantine 
architecture have been departed from, the result will be 
found to be equally faulty and ignoble. The great 
bazaar, the idea of which the Turks have borrowed from 
their Persian neighbours, is, perhaps, without a rival in 
Asia — for the variety of objects to be met with within 
its capacious territory — but the associations connected 
with it are not those of progress. The idea of man's 
stationary habits never quits one in the East; and 
Turkey is no exception to the rule. 

Adjoining the bazaar is the slave market. Slavery in 
Turkey is what many of our proletaires would accept 
to-morrow with eagerness. Exclusive of the question 
of liberty, the condition of the slave is certainly an 
enviable one. The free labourer, even in Turkey, has 
reason to begrudge him his lot — the bondman is always 
well fed, clothed, and housed. Often, in consequence of 
his unbridled temper and imperious will, he has become, 
from the slave, the friend and confidant \ and from the 
friend and confidant, the virtual master of his former lord. 
The kidnapping, the passage, and his confinement in 
the market huts until a purchaser be found for him 
those are his only grievances. 

But to revert to the mosques : St. Sophia, as I have 
already remarked, had just been restored at the time of 
my visit; and a silver medal, commemorative of the 
event, had been struck by the mint, and presented to 
the several ambassadors. In many respects, St. Sophia 
is without a rival even when compared wth the most 



THE MOSQUES MODE OF ENTERING THEM. 309 

stately cathedrals of Western Europe. In all the sub- 
limer features of art it is certainly pre-eminent. A 
want of unity is to be discovered in the exterior, whether 
in regard to the building itself, or to the style of the 
accessories which Turkish ignorance has appended. 
Externally, the larger mosques founded by the Sultans 
are, in most respects, superior. This remark applies not 
so much to the original Greek design as to the edifice 
in its present shape. Within, the genius of the archi- 
tect reigns supreme. All else is mean beside it. The 
marble, the porphyry, and the exquisite embellishments, 
render it in that point of view unique. Over the altar- 
piece, in the chancel, still remains the head of the 
Madonna, which Turkish oversight neglected to efface ; 
and, on that sacred relic the Greeks fondly rely, as an 
efficacious means for their restoration to their lost 
dominion. Access to the mosques is gained by a firman, 
which is procured for a party, previously organised for 
the purpose, by the head-waiter at the Hotel d'Angle- 
terre. He contracts for a stipulated sum, varying, as 
the case may be, from £1 to £3 per head, himself 
bearing the cost attendant upon the procural of the 
firman, and the contingent expenses. He contrives to 
reap a considerable profit from the speculation, with a 
minimum of trouble to himself; for his whole cicerone- 
ship is but of three, or at the most four hours' duration. 
Parties on entering the mosque are obliged to take off 
their shoes, and put on slippers provided for the purpose. 

The traveller rarely gets a sight of the interior of the 
seraglios except when the Sultan is from home. The 
objects contained within are said, however, to be in no 
way remarkable for taste or magnificence. The extent 
of ground it occupies is almost incredible. From the 
lattices the eye can penetrate to, and commands, a 



310 SERAGLIO — SUBLIME PORTE — RESERVOIR, ETC. 

splendid view of the Golden Horn below, the first reach 
of the Bospkorus, the Asiatic shore, Prince's Islands, 
and the Sea of Marmora. A park, the only thing of 
the kind in Turkey, runs along its eastern confines. 
The mint is within the walls of the palace ; and English- 
men have the control over the higher departments. 
The machinery and the system generally is borrowed 
from England. Close to the entrance to this establish- 
ment is an elm of extreme antiquity. The interior is 
completely hollow, and is now converted into a shop. 
Adjoining the mint is the armoury, which contains 
some fine ancient armour, a large collection of muskets, 
and a small repository of the relics of Greek and 
Egyptian art. 

The Sublime Porte is now occupied as the bureau of 
the ministry. From a distance, the building has a fine 
effect ; but a nearer approach is far from awakening any 
feeling of enthusiasm. To enumerate all the wonders 
of Stamboul would of itself fill a book. To be brief: 
they include — besides the huge reservoir which was con- 
structed by Constantine, for the supply of water to his 
capital, in the event of a blockade, or of the diversion of 
its external supplies by a besieging enemy — Sultan 
Mahmoud's tomb, the ruins of Byzantium, the seven 
towers, the new university facing St. Sophia, the monas- 
tic establishments, and, above all, the walls which extend 
several miles in circumference, and are unrivalled, 
whether for breadth or length. The great iron works, 
already alluded to, are situate at Zeitoun Bournou, one 
of the suburbs of Stamboul. They are complete in 
every detail of construction ; but in the agency employed 
in their supervision, and the quality of available labour a 
complete re-organisation is necessary. A mile below the 
iron works is the cotton factory, in like manner super- 



THE GOLDEN HORN AS A HARBOUR. 311 

intended by an Englishman. These industries have 
given birth to a new settlement, composed of the English 
and Armenian mechanics, employed in the respective 
establishments. Some distance beyond it, commences 
the vast plain of Adrianople, which is much infested by 
bandits, who have at times ventured within the precincts 
of the capital, and levied contributions in its suburbs. 

In the Golden Horn, Turkey possesses one of the 
finest and most secure harbours of the world. Up to 
its junction with the Sweet Waters, a distance of more 
than a mile and a half, it affords a depth of water suffi- 
cient to float the largest ships of war. So great, 
moreover, are its advantages for the construction of 
vessels, that all the Turkish ships of the line have been 
there laid down and launched as securely as in a British 
dock-yard. Since it is the only naval arsenal the Turks 
possess, it is on the most extensive scale, and gives em- 
ployment to a vast number of artificers and convicts. 
Englishmen and Americans have been chiefly engaged 
of late years in the construction of Turkish vessels, too 
often, thanks to Turkish ingratitude and Armenian 
subtlety, but to consummate their ruin. The time- 
worn hulks of the vessels, saved after the disaster of 
Navarino, are still to be seen, rotting in front of the 
arsenal. The Turks will not hear of their being broken 
up, conceiving for them the same affectionate super- 
stition as for the dolphin, which may be seen taking its 
somersets undisturbed by their sides; or for the flocks 
of seagulls, which float as securely on the Golden 
Horn, as the ducks on an English pond. The same 
humanity is extended to the dog, the Turkish scaven- 
ger; for the maintenance of which, regular endow- 
ments still exist at Constantinople. From the swarms 
the stranger meets in every street, lane, and alley, he 



312 PALACES OF THE SULTAN. 

may reasonably infer that they are little inferior in 
number to the human population. The Greeks poison 
them annually by thousands, both in Pera and Galata ; 
still they are far from exterminated, even in those locali- 
ties, and the gaps are occasionally filled up from the 
other side of the water. The sagacity which has led 
these pariahs to apportion out to each other, with so 
clear and unerring a definition, their respective quarters, 
from which a departure is never known, except in the 
case referred to, is truly wonderful. I was previously 
somewhat incredulous as to this super-bestial instinct, 
well as the statement had been authenticated; but I 
had such infinite proofs of its correctness during my 
residence, that from ceasing to doubt a fact that was so 
patent to the sight, I became inspired with a feeling of 
awe at the unparalleled development of something like 
sentience in so despised an animal. 

The quarter of Topkhana is distinguished by the Palace 
of the Sultan, which is almost entirely constructed of 
wood. The gardens and conservatories are laid out in 
the European style, and connected with the palace by 
a bridge thrown over the road. At no great distance 
stands the New Palace, now being erected for his High- 
ness by Mr. Smith, an English architect. It is of 
stone, and the workmanship is in exquisite taste. Mr. 
Smith has been employed in most of the great buildings 
recently reared in Constantinople. On the opposite 
side of the strait and facing these palaces, stands another 
royal edifice of similar handsome proportions. The 
Sultan possesses also two chateaus on the banks of the 
Sweet Waters, and kiosques in all parts ; so that his 
Highness counts as many establishments as any of 
his brother potentates. Like them, too, he has his 
expensive fancies. In their fondness for imitation the 



HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE BAIRAM PROCESSION. 313 

Government have devoted a large building, near the 
Palace, to the maintenance of agricultural stock, for 
what beneficial purpose it would be difficult to indicate, 
the animals which are principally English, apparently 
enjoying their dolce far niente undisturbed. 

I had heard so much of the premature appearance of 
the present Sultan, that I was agreeably surprised to 
see a person corresponding little to the rumours in cur- 
rency. Of middle size, and slightly marked with the 
small-pox; but with a most benevolent physiognomy 
and graceful carriage withal : the young prince, though 
apparently displaying little of the vigour and energy 
requisite in the Sovereign of so disturbed a country, 
carries about him a means of popularity, to which his 
predecessors never dreamt of aspiring. The last occa- 
sion I caught sight of him, was on the festival of the 
Bairam. The Ramazan, or Mahommedan Lent, a 
period of fasting and penance, during which the Turks 
taste no food whatever from sunrise to sunset, had just 
terminated ; and with the Bairam had commenced the 
season of rejoicing. Brilliant as the illuminations had 
been during the Ramazan, they became redoubled in 
magnificence during this festival. The Sultan heralds its 
advent by riding in state to the mosque of St. Sophia, as 
soon as it is light. That is the most remarkable holiday 
of the year to the enthusiastic Mussulman. The troops 
exchange their coarse blue serge for English scarlet cloth ; 
their arms and horses are furbished and brightened 
up for the occasion ; the civil and military officers don 
their choicest horse-trappings, on which a number of 
diamonds may be occasionally seen to sparkle; the 
Muftis and Mahommedan ecclesiastics appear in their 
strange costume ; and a crowd of many thousand 
people of every nation set off the magnificent spectacle. 



314 TURKISH TOBACCO RESTRICTION ON ITS USE. 

It was very amusing to see the horses caracoling with 
their riders, old bearded Turks, as plethoric as a London 
alderman, and arrayed for the nonce in garments which, 
from tightness of fit, served to render them particularly 
ludicrous ; and, in case of their being thrown, portended 
a sort of tragedy. 

Clean in their persons, as the Turks undoubtedly are, 
and constant as are the ablutions prescribed by their 
religion, I was surprised to find the preference they 
seemed to give to the most squalid and noxious localities 
for the enjoyment of the chibouque. Strange to say, 
the chibouque khans are generally on the margin of the 
water ; and when by "the margin of the water," is under- 
stood a collection of the most putrescent matter the 
human imagination can picture to itself, one is at a loss 
to reconcile this glaring contrariety of tastes. I have 
noticed this peculiarity, in a less degree, in Holland, 
where the people are equally remarkable for cleanliness. 
The use of tobacco is to the Turk as essential to an 
existence in which contemplation and repose predomi- 
nate over action, as a strong diet is to us. I have often 
considered how great a benefit the English statesman 
might reciprocate with Turkey by a reduction of the 
duty on that article. Turkish tobacco would, in that 
case, rapidly supersede every other in the English mar- 
ket ; for not only have certain species all the desired 
strength of the American product, but they retain all 
that delightful flavour peculiar to an Eastern climate. 
It has long been a puzzle to the publicist, how Turkey 
is enabled to make her returns for the vast quantity of 
our manufactured goods every steamer brings her. 
Certain it is, that her bullion disappears almost as soon 
as it is coined ; and were it not that the balance of 
exchange, both with Russia and 4istria, is generally on 



STEAM IN THE BOSPHORUS. 315 

her side, it must ere this have become totally extinct. At 
present, Turkish tobacco is at an almost fabulous price 
in England. The better qualities are to be purchased 
at Constantinople, at from sixpence to tenpence a pound, 
and in the interior of Roumelia, I have bought some of 
excellent quality as low as twopence halfpenny. There 
is another important consideration involved in the 
substitution of Turkish for American tobacco : I refer 
to its salubrity, and the absence of expectoration and 
a desire for drink, both attendant upon the use of 
American. 

Of late years, the increase of steamers plying between 
Constantinople and other parts of Europe, has become 
very remarkable. From fourteen to twenty may be now 
seen at one time at anchor in the Golden Horn. The 
largest are those of the Peninsular and Oriental Com- 
pany, which has been compelled to put forth all its 
strength on the station, to make head against the 
inroads of the two Screw Steam Companies, running 
from London and Liverpool to this port. The Austrian 
Lloyd's also have taken up a no less spirited position on 
this line, Russian steamers run from hence to Odessa ; 
and the French maintain two lines ; one of which was 
set on foot by private enterprise. The Turks, some years 
ago, becoming jealous of the pre-eminence of foreigners 
in their own waters, summoned up courage to undertake 
a line of steamers to Trebizond 5 and another to Smyrna. 
Minor enterprises, such as between Constantinople and 
the villages on the Bosphorus, and Prince's Islands, have 
followed in their train ; but it is a question of doubt, 
whether any one of them covers the heavy expenses 
inseparable from a government concern. The screw 
steamers have accomplished a wonderful revolution in 
the carrying trade, short as their career has been. Their 



316 SUCCESS OF THE SCREW OVER ALL OTHER STEAMERS. 

success has led to a corresponding reduction, on the 
part of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, of the 
before excessive cost of freight and passage. Yet an 
ample scope for a further diminution still remains. In 
consequence of the greatly lessened consumption of 
fuel, arising from the co-operation of sailing qualities 
with the powerful propulsion of the screw, that class of 
steamers are enabled to take, as cargo, what the paddle- 
wheel steamer is compelled to reject. Thus, in the 
spring and summer they can carry corn, the more costly 
species of timber, and numerous miscellanea, all pro- 
ductive of profit, which have hitherto been confined to 
merchantmen. It is highly probable, that under a more 
perfect organisation, they may come to supersede the 
rising Greek and Austrian marine in their own seas. 

Previously to leaving Constantinople, I had been 
prostrated by a virulent intermittent fever, which had 
left me in a deplorable state of weakness. Two Turkish 
frigates were at this juncture about to sail for England ; 
my medical adviser, happening to be one of the phy- 
sicians to the sultan, kindly intimated that he would 
endeavour to obtain me a passage by that channel, 
under the impression that the odour of a steamer might 
prove offensive to a person in my delicate state. Un- 
fortunately, they had broken through the regulation 
which prohibits the setting out on an expedition until 
the conclusion of the festivals; and the commander, 
finding himself in possession of a favourable wind, had 
reached Gallipoli before we could be apprised of their 
intentions. I was obliged, in consequence, to take 
passage for Malta in the Brigand, a screw steamer 
plying between this port and Liverpool. The size which 
this wcrk has already attained will prevent my de- 
scribing what transpired during a trip into Asia Minor ; 



VOYAGE HOME ARRIVAL AT MALTA. 317 

I shall now, therefore, conclude the task I have under- 
taken by furnishing the reader with any novel incident 
that may occur on the voyage home. 

With the wind in our favour, we scudded rapidly 
down the Sea of Marmora, and on the following morning 
found ourselves abreast of the town of the Dardanelles, 
at which vessels are compelled to wait half an hour for 
the necessary papers. At times, some of the steamers 
have taken advantage of a dark night, and cleared the 
channel in safety, without submitting to the required 
form ; at times, in making the attempt, they have have 
experienced so sharp a fire from the castles, as to sustain 
the loss of the jib-boom or a top-gallant mast. The 
complaints of the shipping interest are not without 
reason, for the charges to which they are liable, to the 
Consuls from Smyrna to Constantinople, amount, when 
taken in the gross, to a heavy annual tax. After 
clearing Smyrna and getting into the centre of the 
iEgean, we were overtaken by a heavy swell from the 
north, which continued until we were abreast of Cape 
St. Angelo. Our course lay a little to the south of 
Ipsara and Ante-Ipsara, two apparently barren, but 
nevertheless thickly-peopled islands, affording tolerable 
anchorage to vessels, and inhabited by a frugal and 
industrious little Greek community, devoted to the 
pursuits of commerce. A considerable distance is saved 
by taking, as we did on this occasion, the Dora passage, 
through the Greek Archipelago. On arriving in the 
Ionian waters, we experienced the usual chopping sea 
and heavy swell, which a few hours > bad weather is 
sufficient to evoke in that locality. We approached 
within sight of Malta just before gun-fire in the evening. 
Since we had been duly signalled, we were glad to learn, 
on arrival, that we had saved the day, which reduced the 



318 PROCEED FROM THENCE IN THE HELLESPONT. 

duration of the quarantine to a thirty-six hours' confine- 
ment on board ship. The virulence with which the 
cholera was at this period raging in the island, carrying 
off as many as twenty-five a day, was urged by my 
fellow-passengers as a most powerful reason to induce 
me to continue the voyage in their company ; but as I 
should thereby lose the opportunity I set so much store 
on, of a personal inspection of the island, I resisted all 
their arguments, and landed as soon as possible. At 
Malta I remained a month, and by dint of giving myself 
constant employment and combining with it a sufficiency 
of exercise, became rather strengthened than otherwise 
by my sojourn, and regained much of the energy I had 
frittered away during the fever. 

At length I embarked on the screw-steamer Helle- 
spont, one of the vessels now employed in carrying the 
mails to the Cape of Good Hope; the wind being 
favourable, we made rapid way, and passed the Island 
of Pantellaria, a Neapolitan convict-station, early in the 
morning. As our course lay more to the south than 
that of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, we ap- 
proximated close to Cape Bon, caught a distant view of 
the Bay of Tunis and the whole of the North African 
coast up to Algiers, the white buildings of which were 
distinctly visible in the distant horizon. As it dis- 
appeared, we were repaid by the opening vista of the 
bold and perpendicular steep of the Spanish coast, and 
the stupendous mountains in the background, one of 
which, the Sierra Nevada, was already capped with 
snow. 

The Bay of Gibraltar presented a very animated 
appearance on our arrival. The Turkish frigates, which 
had given me the slip at Constantinople, having arrived 



GIBRALTAR THE BAY OF BISCAY. 319 

the day before us, after a long and tedious passage, 
were now in quarantine ; the ship-chandlers, anticipating 
a harvest, had already been alongside to solicit orders. 
Imagine their mortification, then, on learning that the 
whole requirements of the temperate Mussulmans were 
limited to a supply of bread and water-melons. After 
taking in coals, the Hellespont proceeded on her passage 
up the Straits. We obtained a splendid view of Ceuta, 
Tangiers, Tarifa, Cape Spartel, and Cape Trafalgar, and 
the next day passed Cape St. Vincent. The Portuguese 
coast appeared to enjoy a verdure denied to its southern 
neighbour, and gladdened the heart of one weary with 
the lugubrious vegetation of Eastern Europe. Then 
followed a distant prospect of Lisbon and Cintra ; soon 
after which we skirted the singular group of rocks 
called the Beiiings, bade adieu to land, and were soon 
launched into the Bay of Biscay. No sooner were we 
fairly in the centre, than a heavy swell from the Atlantic, 
occasioned by the autumnal equinox, burst suddenly 
upon us ; and a stiff breeze from the south-west, setting 
in at the same time, combined to test the sailing as well 
as steaming qualities of our little craft. Her sharp 
proportions, the lightness of her draught, and her 
peculiar buoyancy, operated also to call out all her 
beauty, as she scudded before the wind, at the rate of 
fourteen or fifteen miles an hour. Ere we had made 
the chops of the Channel, our increasing proximity to 
the hazy atmosphere and weeping climate of Albion 
became unmistakeably evident, and called up the remi- 
niscences of a home, a return to which had more than 
once appeared problematical. My family, which could 
scarcely have failed to read the announcement in the 
continental journals of my arrest and confinement by a 



320 FEELINGS ON LANDING ON ONE'S NATIVE SHORE. 

merciless enemy, could only recently have learnt of my 
escape and safety : perhaps even I might be the first to 
bear the tidings of my deliverance. Those only who 
have themselves incurred perils, can fully appreciate the 
sentiments by which one is animated when, under such 
circumstances, one again steps on the shores of one's 
father-land. 



321 



APPENDIX. 



Correspondence with Prince Schwarzenberg. 

(A) 

Copy of a Letter from Baron Werner to Mr.Pridham. 

Vienne, Aout 2, 1849. 

Monsieur, — Monsieur le President du Conseil des Ministres, 
Prince de Schwarzenberg, a recu la lettre que vous lui 
avez adressee en date d'hier. Son Altesse me charge, en 
reponse, de rappeler a votre souvenir, Monsieur, la conversa- 
tion qu'elle a eue avec vous a Toccasion de votre demande 
d'un passeport pour la Hongrie. Yous vous souviendrez 
qu'alors le Prince vous a represente, que c'etait dans votre 
propre interet, et par des motifs d'humanite, pour ainsi dire, 
qu'il vous refusait les m ovens de vous rendre sur la scene 
d'une guerre civile terrible, ou l'etr anger, qui n'a rien a y 
voir, etait expose sans remede a des dangers de tout genre, et 
a des complications d'autant plus grandes. Ce qui vient de 
vous arriver, confirme la justice des presages du Prince de 
Schwarzenberg. 

En quittant la route, qui vous etait tracee dans votre 
passeport, vise pour Trieste ; en vous aventurant a travers 
champs vers les confins du pays insurge ; en passant ces 



322 APPENDIX. 

confins sur un point eloigne des grandes voies de communica- 
tion, vous avez du necessairement exciter les soupcons des 
autorites civiles et militaires chargers de surveiller rigoureuse- 
ment la frontiere. Si les mesures, que, pourtant, elles ont du 
prendre a votre egard, vous ont ete desagreables, vous ne les 
pouvez attribuer qu'a un etat de choses qui vous etait connu 
d'avance. M. le Prince de Schwarzenberg, tout en regrettant 
vivernent les desagremens auxquels vous avez ete en butte, se 
voit done hors d'etat de contribuer a ce qu'ils soient repares. 

Recevez, Monsieur, je vous prie, les assurances de ma 
parfaite consideration. 

Werner, 
Sous - Secretaire d 'Etat, 

A M. Charlks Pridham. 
Stadt Hotel de Trieste. 



(B) 

Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pridham to Prince Schwarzenberg. 

Stadt Hotel de Trieste, August 5, 1849. 

May it please your Highness, — The present critical 
state of the relations subsisting between Great Britain and 
Austria, and the natural desire to in no way complicate, by a 
question of personal interest, matters already sufficiently em- 
barrassing, have led me maturely to consider the best course 
to pursue on this occasion, in reference to the treatment I 
have experienced within the Austrian dominions. Your 
Highness could scarcely expect me to be satisfied with the 
letter Baron Werner has done me the honour to address me, 
seeing that the argument employed therein, and which I may 
observe, en passant, is strained to the utmost, affects neither the 



APPENDIX. 323 

duration of my arrest, nor the cruelties suffered at the hands 
of the Austrian police. I was at some pains to give your 
Highness a detailed and circumstantial account of my treat- 
ment, principally with the design of anticipating such general 
reasoning, which cannot in this case be said to apply, from the 
almost entire absence of the circumstances therein assumed. 

Leaving general reasoning, then, I may just remind your 
Highness, that several other travellers passed through Friedberg 
on the day of my arrival in perfect safety ; that my passport had 
been several times examined, and was found to be correct ; 
that for miles to the east and west of Friedberg, the population 
is entirely German, and though geographically a part of Hun- 
gary, it is as tranquil a state as any part of Styria ; that there 
were several Austrian posts to the east of Friedberg, all of 
which I must have had to pass to accomplish the object 
attributed to me ; that the scene of war is far removed from 
this place ; that the slight deflection I made from the general 
route in no way affected my position, as I contrived to make 
myself generally understood; that my explanations, and the 
verification of them furnished by my passport, were of themselves 
a proof of innocence, which should have silenced suspicion; that 
upon nothing having been found upon me, I should have been 
allowed to proceed to Warasdin ; that no excuse can be found 
for the refusal of pens, ink, and paper, on the part of the 
man Hansch (who perfectly understood everything I re- 
quired), even if I had been an Hungarian spy, because 
they are conceded to all prisoners in every country; that 
even if I had been an Hungarian spy, there was no oc- 
casion, and it was unlawful, to employ the cruelties which 
have been perpetrated on this occasion ; that among all 
nations, calling themselves civilised, the establishment of an 
exceptional state of things, should lead to a more lenient 
interpretation and administration of the law; and that, irre- 
spective of the violation of the law of nations in my person, the 
Austrian law has itself been violated. It is not always the 
case that justice is compatible with sound policy ; but, in this 



324 APPENDIX. 

instance, they admit of being brought into unison. Tt has been 
well remarked by an eminent jurist, that the refusal of redress, 
where demanded by justice, may be attributed either to the 
weakness or tyranny of a government. In the present situation 
of Austria, it will certainly not be urged as a proof of its 
strength in England; but rather as an evidence of the desire 
to assume an appearance not justified by fact, and by which 
the ignorant can alone be deceived. 

Wherefore, I pray your Highness to accord the very 
moderate demands I made in my letter of the 1st instant, 
which I am bound to maintain and follow up through all 
their consequences, equally as an Englishman and a man of 
honour. 

I have the honour to remain, 

Your Highness's most obedient humble Servant, 

Charles Pkidham. 

His Highness the Pkince Schwarzenberg, 
Hotel des Affaires Etrangeres. 



(C) 
An unsuccessful, but deeply-laid, scheme to poison Kossuth 
was detected during his stay at Viddin. A short time 
previously to my arrival at Constantinople, another conspiracy, 
having for its object, the assassination of Kossuth, and the other 
chiefs of the Magyar emigration, had been laid bare in all 
its hideous details, through the instrumentality of the Cor- 
respondent of the Morning Herald in that capital. The plot 
had been frustrated at the outset through the well-grounded 
suspicions of Kossuth and his followers; but it was reserved 
for the gentleman in question to unravel the web of mystery 
in which the affair had been shrouded, and to trace to the 
highest quarter, the Austrian Ambassador himself, the con- 
coction and direction of this infernal project. 



APPENDIX. 325 

The reader familar with the current events of that eventful 
period, will recollect that the Vienna Correspondent of a 
leading journal, but too notoriously known for its leaning 
to absolutism, in referring to the widely spread rumour of 
the conspiracy, contented himself with simply chronicling it, 
and informing the public that it was not for him, but for 
the Austrian government, to refute it. The subject was 
never again mooted by him, for the best of reasons, and the 
Austrian government, aware that its machinations had been 
rendered perfectly transparent through the agency above 
referred to, maintained a discreet silence. Fortunately for 
the perpetrators of this diabolical scheme, public opinion in 
Western Europe, indifferent as might be its estimate of 
Austrian honour, refused to believe in the commission of so 
atrocious an act in this enlightened age, and the meditated 
assassination of the helpless exiles soon floating down the 
stream of time along with other dark and sinister rumours, 
passed into oblivion. The Author was made conversant 
with the means adopted to trace the conspirators, and learnt 
the fullest particulars from the person a (Greek), engaged in 
unravelling the affair. To succeed in his object, the latter 
was obliged to have recourse to stratagem ; and being furnished 
with a key to the mystery, and to the character of the parties 
engaged in it, he soon wormed himself so far into their con- 
fidence as to be actually supposed an accomplice in the plot. 
I am not aware whether any one of the parties implicated in 
this nefarious transaction received the punishment they 
deserved at the hands of the Turkish government. The 
Porte doubtless felt the peril it would incur in venturing 
on ground of so dangerous a character, to which fate might 
fix no assignable limit, and with more prudence than reso- 
lution, only noticed the matter to express their abhorrence 
and detestation of it. The Austrian Internuncio,* as soon as 

* The attempt upon the life of Kossuth was not the only criminal act 
by which this person contrived to render himself notorious. An inha- 
bitant of Fiume, who had acted as a sort of agent for the Hungarians 



326 APPENDIX. 

the storm had somewhat subsided, confessed, as I am informed, 
his privity to the transaction, and apologized for it on the 
hollow and absurd ground that it had been designed to show 
Kossuth and his companions the futility of making any 
attempt to escape. If such were the case, the persecution 
soon afterwards set on foot by the Ambassador against the 
individual who had unmasked his treachery, was equally 
unwise and inexplicable. The Internuncio has since deemed 
it prudent to resign the post he so long held at the Ottoman 
Porte, for he could not but perceive how altered a reception he 
experienced at the hands of the whole community, accus- 
tomed as it might be to the narrative of Oriental treachery ; 
nor could he be altogether blind to the superior influence 
of England, which had gained for Bern and Guyon the 
military command of two important provinces. 



(D) 

In the course of my wanderings, I had ample opportunities 
of forming a correct opinion as to the character, habits, and 
qualifications of those employed in the command of our mer- 
chant navy. With some few exceptions, they are a disgrace to 
the country. A more gross, incapable, and debauched class 
of persons cannot be said to exist. 

As a proof of the justice of these remarks, it is sufficient to 
state, that when the English captain is thrown by chance into 
the company of the French, Greek, or Italian, his society is 
studiously avoided by them all, as that of a being unfit to 
move in a civilised sphere. The same observation applies 

in Smyrna, and had been the means of supplying them with arms, wa 
claimed as a felon by the Austrian Consul at the latter place, at the 
instigation of the Internuncio. Seized and torn from the altar of a 
church, in which he had taken refuge, he was, to the horror of the 
people couducted onboard one of Lloyd's steamers, and carried roTrieste. 



APPENDIX. 327 

equally well to the common sailor. When brought into con- 
tact with the foreigner of the same class, no fusion ensues of 
taste or sympathies ; the Englishman becomes as isolated from 
the gentler and more refined stranger, as his own island is 
from the Continent of Europe. 

I am satisfied, moreover, after a close observation of the 
character of our merchant captains, that the shipper is too 
often grossly defrauded in the ports of the East, by collusive 
dealings between the ship-chandlers and captains, and that 
the expenses of the voyage might be considerably reduced, 
were a more vigilant eye kept on the expenditure of a ship 
while she remains in port. These are points deserving of 
regard, at a moment when our commercial marine is called 
upon to enter into a serious competition with the foreigner. 



J. VVertheimer <fc Co., Printers, Finsbury Circus. 




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